Carson, who was among the 70-member medical team that separated seven-month old German twin boys joined at the back of their heads in 1987, focused on the power and capabilities of the human brain and the need for American society to look beyond superficial differences. "We may have come over on different boats, but we're all on the same boat now. We have got to realize that we are all together."
Using examples from his own childhood throughout much of his speech, Carson explained how "doubt and fear are great diminishers of human potential" and said that "as a neurosurgeon, I am in constant awe of the human brain ... this amorphous mass of cells and what it can do."
He said that as a child growing up in Detroit, his mother forced him to read instead of allowing him to play outside with the other children in his neighborhood. "As a fifth-grader, my idea of a good time was goofing off in school--my nickname was `Dummy,'" he said. After his mother forced him to read instead of watching television, however, he soon became interested in what he was reading--and one day in school, when the teacher brought in a rock and asked the class to identify it, "Dummy" raised his hand, something he never did, and said, "Mr. Jake, that's obsidian." He then proceeded to tell the class how it was formed. "They couldn't believe all that geological knowledge was being spewed from the mouth of a dummy," Carson said.
After that, "no book was safe within my reach." Carson condemned the current American focus on entertainment, sports and other trivial endeavors that do not encourage intellectual pursuit. "Americans have to change where the emphasis is," he said. "You cannot allow the media to define who you are. You're better than that ... what do we emphasize? What do we talk about all the time? We've gotten to the point where society is so willing to take what is spoonfed to them by the media that it doesn't matter."
"Is this really the American way? Is this really what made America a great nation?" Carson said. Finally, he compared America to the demise of Greece and Rome: "They became enamored of sports and entertainment ... they lost view of what was important, and their societies collapsed. That can happen here too."
-- Danielle Service