The Journey from Pain to Purpose with Mayor Ben Marciano

In this episode with talk with Ben Marciano, the mayor of Ocala. Tune in as he shares his journey from a troubled past to becoming the mayor. He talks about his background in criminal justice, his struggles with addiction, and how he found his passion for serving others. Ben emphasizes the importance of taking care of oneself physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and shares his daily routine for maintaining well-being. He also discusses the role of faith in his life and how it has guided him through his challenges. Ben's story serves as an inspiration for anyone facing adversity and seeking hope and transformation.

Takeaways

•  Taking care of oneself physically, emotionally, and spiritually is essential for overall well-being.
• Faith and prayer can provide guidance and strength during difficult times.
• Sharing one's story and being vulnerable can inspire and give hope to others.
• Support and mentorship from trusted individuals are crucial for personal growth and accountability.

Mayor Ben Marciano

Transcript

Critical Aspects (00:01.28)

All right. Welcome back to Critical Aspects of Law Enforcement. I'm your host, Vernon Phillips. And today on the show, we've got a special guest. We've got Ben Marciano. So Ben Marciano is the mayor for Ocala. And I'm just going to turn it over him, let him introduce himself, talk a little bit about who he is, his background, his interests, and you know, kind of what got him here to being the mayor. So Ben, I appreciate you taking the time. So.

Ben Marciano (00:31.578)

Awesome. Well, thanks for having me. Yeah, it's still kind of surreal with me to even be the mayor of Ocala. took office about eight months ago. And it's amazing what God will do when we let him in our lives. know, I actually went to school for criminal justice. My heart was to be involved in law enforcement. was in my senior year at FSU getting ready to graduate with a degree in criminal justice. And unfortunately, I took a bad path in life and things got really bad for me. And that's when I got involved in the health club industry and found success in that and owned some health clubs and over my time of finding myself and using the gyms to serve the community and serve others, I found my passion in serving people. And God put it on my heart that you're gonna be the Mayor of Ocala. I tried to tell him no, that did not work out well. And here I am today and it's a great opportunity. It's a big job, it's a lot of work, a lot more than I even thought you know, as far as the demand of what people are looking for. But it is a great opportunity to make a difference.

Critical Aspects (01:36.014)

Yeah, absolutely. obviously, you know, being the mayor, like you said, there's a lot to it. It's probably a very demanding job. And there's probably a lot of long days, sleepless nights. So what do you do? Obviously, you know, you you own several, you know, gyms and you're you're regularly doing physical activity. but what is it that you do to maintain your overall physical, emotional, and spiritual well -being.

Ben Marciano (02:09.642)

Good. That's a great question. So, you know, when I first started as mayor, I didn't realize, I kind of thought maybe I was going to be able to break my day up being the mayor, being a gym owner, being a dad, and the mayor has taken all my time. It literally is a 10 hour, 12 hour day job. The demands, and I guess it's what you make of it, but when the community calls and I see all the issues, I really kind of dove into it and, you know, gave it everything I had. The problem is I put myself last and I did that for about six months.

I noticed that spiritually I was really struggling, physically I was struggling. so I had to refocus and realize that if I don't take care of myself, I can't be anything to anybody else. So got back in the gym, started working out, eating healthy. And my morning routine is essential to me. I wake up in the morning before everybody else is up. I start my day in prayer and meditation. Another big tool that has helped me over the years is visualizing who I want to be. I almost do...

I knew who I was and I was not a great person years ago and I wanted to be someone different. So I wrote down the characteristics of who I wanted to be and I knew I wanted to be a great dad, a great husband, a great leader, someone who cares for people. And I visualized myself being that person throughout the day and then I assessed it at night almost like an analysis, a business plan of how it went.

And then I pray on that and ask God to guide me better the next day. And it seems to work well when I do it. It kind of sets the precedence for the day. So those are some key elements to helping me. And then talking to people. I used to try to bottle everything up. I didn't want to share what I was dealing with. And being in my head alone is a dangerous place. I need to have really good people around me that I trust, that I know have my best interest at heart.

And then don't tell me what I want to hear, but I need to hear and I have a lot of mentors that do that for me and my wife being one who's a really good advocate for guiding me in the right direction. So those are some of the elements that help me stay on track. I still struggle though, I'll be honest. Yeah.

Critical Aspects (04:09.969)

yeah, well we all do. But those are good tips for anybody, especially just taking that time to prioritize investing in yourself because we see that in law enforcement too, right? We see that that's a profession where individuals serve other people, but a lot of times they put themselves last. And that's when we see a lot of things arise in the law enforcement professional's lives, whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

But there is one thing you did say that I want to kind of just jump back to and you said that you don't want to be in your head alone. And I think that's a really big important thing because, know, whether people want to admit it not, we have a lot of conversations with ourselves in our head, right? But sometimes we're not alone in that. Sometimes, you know, the devil comes in and the devil likes to feed these little lies, right? He'll just come in and he'll drop these little seeds.

And that's why it's crucial that we have to be continually investing in ourselves, especially on the spiritual side. Because we often talk a lot about the physical, the mental, and the emotional, but sometimes we fail to really get into the spiritual, right? And there's a significant battle that goes on there, especially in our own minds and those little lies that the devil feeds us. So I think that's a really good point to hit on. Like, hey, don't be alone in your own head.

Fill it with something useful. Fill it with something that can help you defend against those little seeds that get dropped in there. And for you, prayer, meditation, meditating on the Word of God, on scripture, that is all things that help prepare us mentally for that battle to not be alone in our heads. So I appreciate you sharing that, because I think that's a vital part of anybody's daily life, for sure.

Ben Marciano (06:05.992)

Absolutely. know, I had a lot of childhood trauma. I'm very transparent about my story. think part of the reason why I'm the mayor is to use this platform to give people hope, especially young kids that maybe don't have the best life that they can get through it. But a lot of how we view the world are from the things that we've been through in our lives. There's a lens. And I view the world as a scared little kid for a long time for just never feeling safe.

So it you know, it really, I had to realize that and a lot of my thought patterns came from those moments. So it did a lot of work on identifying, okay, what is the reality here? Because it probably isn't true. And a lot of times we call it catastrophizing when we think the worst case scenario and 95 % of the time that scenario never occurs. And then we waste all this time worrying about that.

And I have a spiritual mentor that tells me, says, worry is the delusion that we're in control. We think we can control these things and we really can't. We have to have faith and trust God and God always handles it. Even when in my darkest moments, there are things that I've received from those moments that have helped me become who I am. And if I just trust God and have faith, it always works out the way that it should. And just identifying those things that were holding me back,

I would envision, okay, where is this coming from? What maybe thing that I go through in my life that causes me to have this feeling? And then what is the truth? And I just pray for God to guide me through that. And it's helped me. I've come a long way in those different aspects.

Critical Aspects (07:39.976)

Yeah. So you used a word there and the first time I used it, my wife was like, that's not a real word. Catastrophizer. know, and she's like, that's not, like, no, that's somebody who like, you know, over embellishes, you know, what's really going on. said, you know, it's like everything is a catastrophe, but it's, she's like, that's not her. like, it's a real word. I'm telling you. So yeah. Well, I've used it in a paper, so it went, so I didn't get marked off. So.

Ben Marciano (08:02.494)

Yes, in my mind it is.

Ben Marciano (08:08.298)

There you go. That's awesome.

Critical Aspects (08:09.138)

But see, yeah, so you've obviously not always been the mayor. and you said, you know, you're more than willing to talk about where you were and where you are now. So why don't you just kind of give us a, you know, that a brief overview on kind of your story and where you were and just how you've been able to progress and get to where you are now.

Ben Marciano (08:30.654)

Yeah, so unfortunately addiction runs rampant in my family. My parents divorced at a young age. My mother did the best she could, but my first childhood memory was being at a party and with my mom, I was probably three or four and somebody putting a mirror out and snorting a white powder.

And, you know, we were just always in, I was always in really uncompromising situations as a kid. My mom would push me in a shopping cart because we wouldn't have a car from the grocery store to subsidize living. We bounced around from house to house. And then I think at the age of 12, I moved in with my grandfather, who was a retired New York City police officer. My grandfather really kind of said, hey, I really want then if you want to keep doing what you're doing, that's good. And so I moved in.

I from no discipline to extreme discipline. My grandfather was very much old school. I remember almost not liking him in my mind, but I look back on my life and my grandfather is the most important individual in my life. Some of the life lessons that he taught me are probably some of the things that make me why I'm so successful in other aspects of my life. You my grandfather used to tell me be 15 minutes early or you're late and he instilled that in me.

He always told me, if you're going to do something, give it 110 % and do it right. And my work ethic I learned from my grandfather. But, I always tell people this, the people that are the hardest on you are the ones that care the most. Sometimes we have the perception that they just, they're jerks, right? Or whatever it is, but those are the ones that care the most. So from there, I wanted to make my grandfather proud. So I went to school for law enforcement. I did not drink through high school. did not want that for myself, but when I got into my first year of college, I remember someone handed me a beer at a party and I drank it and it did something to me. It filled the void inside that I think God is only supposed to fill. And I felt comfortable in my own skin for the first time. And I drank that night into a blackout. They say addiction is half hereditary, half environment. Well, I had both. And so was really kind of doomed for failure when it comes to addiction.

Ben Marciano (10:41.426)

I drank a lot over the years. graduated from CF miraculously with a degree in criminal justice. And then I went to FSU, FSU, party and got really bad. Like I said, my senior year, was, I was at a nightclub and I was, I was feeling like I was going to pass out. So I was walking back to my apartment and I passed out on the sidewalk and I woke up to a cop shining light in my face. And he searched me and he found drugs on me and I was arrested for a felony drug charge. And I remember just feeling so like my life was over at that point. Because everything that I thought, everything that I thought I was working for was over. I had to spend the night in jail. I continued to party. I just didn't want to feel bad. I got involved in the health cup industry. On my worst occasion, one night I took a substance called GHB and I took too much of it and I overdosed and they rushed me to the hospital. And all I remember is people screaming my name telling me, Ben, don't leave, don't leave and I was walking towards this white light. And I looked at the white light and I turned around and I walked back away from it and I came out of it. And I woke up and it was machine breathing for me. I was gone for three days. I thought I was gone for seconds. The doctors had told my mom I probably wasn't gonna be able, I wasn't gonna pull through it. I believe God pulled me through it. I wound up into a psych ward for three days. And then, I remember trying to outrun the disease. That's a very common thing. If I could just get out of here, then I'll be able to be okay. The only problem is wherever I went, there I was. And so I made it to Miami at my worst. It really was at my worst. I was fired from my job. Really, I would have to use drugs or alcohol all day just to, I would go into withdrawals. so was physically and mentally, I was addicted to the drugs and alcohol. So the guy fired me, which he should have. And then I was living in a high rise, apartment 15 floors up and my best thought every day was to take my life and this was the day I was gonna do it. I remember I was gonna jump off the balcony and I had one bottle of vodka left, no money left and I was gonna be addicted the next day and I had no resources left. No one would take my phone calls anymore. So I drank the vodka and I walked to the balcony to jump and I said a prayer. I said if there's a God you'll do something. I'd never prayed before.

Ben Marciano (13:04.426)

But I knew that this was it. And just as I opened the sliding glass door, my phone started ringing and it was my mother calling who had not called me in three months. And I picked up the phone and she said, something told me to call you. And so I know that was God's intervention. So she said, listen, I checked into this place in Ocala, it's called the centers. They have one bed available if you'll take it. So I got in my car, I drove to the centers on Airport Road. I begged them to take me in. I stayed there for six months and

That was the first Sunday I was there. I had my head down on the table. was crying. remember I was crying and a guy walked up to me, put his arm around me and he said, young man, would you like to go to church with me? I said, sure, I'll go with you. And his name was Pastor Nate Dixon at Meadowbrook Church. And he picked me up and I went to church. And I remember I pulled up there in the white van. I sat in the back. I was too embarrassed to look at anybody in the eyes. I was homeless. My car was repoed while I was there. So I had nothing. I had three pairs of clothes to my name.

And I remember Pastor Tim speaking that day and his message pierced my heart. And I walked to the front at the end to do an altar call. And it was something where I received God, received the Lord. And Pastor Nate counseled me over the years. I got a sponsor. And from there, I started as a janitor at Lord's Gym. I thought that was a really good place to be. I stayed humble, kept my...focus on me and who I wanted to be. Then I went to the YMCA, started as a front desk person, worked my way up to vice president and met a beautiful woman who I believe God brought to me. I believe when you do the right thing, God will do really good things in your life. And he brought me my amazing wife. I tell people I married Mother Teresa. so, you know, we've had three beautiful kids and in 2014 we opened our business our first business, is Zone Health and Fitness. And I'll tell you for a couple years, one of the things that I share is that I chased success, at least what I thought was success. I wanted to get the big car, I the nice, the big house, the nice car, the boat, and I kept trying to fill, I guess I was trying to maybe prove that I was at this homeless drug addict. I also was trying to maybe find happiness through things, I think which is common when we start to make money.

Ben Marciano (15:24.008)

and I was miserable and one day my spiritual mentor, I speaking to him, said, Mike, I'm gonna sell Zone. I said, I just, this is not, you know, the business, I'm not happy. He said, I'm glad we're having this conversation, Ben. He said, it's not the business, the problem is you. I said, okay. He said, everything you do is about you. He said, your motives are about you. You want more and more stuff. He said, I'm gonna make it really simple for you.

He said, if you will change your focus to serving God and serving others, you'll find everything in life you're looking for. And he hung up on me. And then I sat in my car and I thought about that. And he was right. And he was right. that day I walked in my business with the mindset that I was just gonna serve my employees and serve people. And I did that all day long. And I remember walking into my house later that night, seeing my wife, and she could tell that something was different about me. And she said, must have been a great day with the numbers at ZONE, because that would determine my happiness. And I said, no, it wasn't the numbers today. She said, well, it was different. I said, I was different. I said, I figured it out, Danielle. I figured it out. It's about serving God and serving others. And if I do that, I'm going to be good. And so we did that and really found happiness and peace. And I did that for several years. And then I had the opportunity to expand my business. An investor came on and said, hey, let's grow these gyms across the state of Florida. And it was everything that I said I wanted, you know, early when I opened my business. And I remember being at church one day and I was praying and I said, God, what do you want from me? And I felt God tell me you are now ready for what I've prepared you for. And that's when he put on my heart that you're going to be the mayor of Ocala. And I said, no, I'm not. That is not a good, that is not a good, that cannot work. Not with my past, not with my background.

Critical Aspects (17:07.018)

Yeah.

Ben Marciano (17:14.95)

it will not be something that I will be able to do. And he kept putting it on my heart and I prayed on it. And I told my wife and she said, Ben, I really feel like everything you've been through in your life has prepared you for this moment. She said, why don't we do this? Why don't we share your story in the Ocala Style magazine and let's see how it's received in the community. If people receive it well, we'll kind of take that as a sign. So we put our story out in the Ocala Style, shared everything about me being arrested, my drug addiction, how I overcame it was received really well and then we announced that I was going to run for mayor and my platform was going to be focused on the mental health of our community and I was going to use my story to really put the focus on the physical and mental health of the community and we had an incumbent mayor that was in office for 12 years so we knew that if he didn't run that we probably would have a lot of candidates that would run against me that were probably waiting for him to be finished and no one ran against me. I think it was the first time

Critical Aspects (18:10.623)

Yeah.

Ben Marciano (18:11.742)

that a non -incumbent mayor had no opposition. God opened up every door for me to be able to run and he put me in this position. And there are still a lot of days where I'm really insecure about this, thinking I'm not the right person. But then I see God show up and I see how he uses my story. I'll share this last bit and then I'll turn it back to you is that Ashley Moody came to town as the attorney general. She asked me to share my story because she was doing a press conference on drug overdoses. And I shared my story and the law enforcement commissioner walked up to me afterwards and he put his hand on my shoulder and I thought, I probably shared too much. Maybe I'm in trouble. And I turned around and he said, son, I got to tell you something. He said, I can feel the spirit of God on your life. He goes, you are going to save some people's lives. And then I start crying. And then the next day I got calls from SMA and Beacon Point and they said that their phones were ringing off the hook.

Critical Aspects (19:00.985)

Thank

Ben Marciano (19:07.272)

people were surrendering and asking for help. So even if this is about just about me using this platform maybe to give people hope that they can do it, then I think that man what a win that would be. But I've seen God using it in other aspects too, so it's been pretty

Critical Aspects (19:22.041)

Yeah, that's an incredible story. if anybody hasn't heard your story yet and they're hearing it for the first time, know, it's an incredible story just of, you know, where you were and where God has you now. But I think it's really encouraging for somebody maybe who's in that darkest moment of their life, who's, you know, they're at rock bottom. They're at the end of the road and they're thinking, I don't have anywhere to go. don't have anything left to give them some type of hope, to give them something that they can say, hey, maybe I'm not gonna be the mayor of Ocala, but I can get myself back on track. I can get myself somewhere to a sustainable place in my life. So I think that it's absolutely awesome what you're doing as far as using your story, using your platform to share your past, your experience, because I think that that's what you makes a difference when we start, you know, impacting people's lives is the authenticity that we have in and of ourselves, right? To share, Hey, look, I'm not like, yeah, I may be the mayor now, but I'm not perfect. And I'm never going to be perfect. And it was a struggle. Like, you know, my life is, has been a struggle, but this is what it, this is what it was. This is what it looks like. And yeah, I still, you know, battle every day, but, but now I'm equipped to go and to face that battle. And one of those things is our faith, And God gives us that ability to fight those battles. sometimes we don't win them, but ultimately we know the end of the story, right? We know that the war is won. So sometimes we lose a battle here and there, but we're better equipped for it, that's for sure. So I think that...

Ben Marciano (21:16.542)

Yes.

Critical Aspects (21:17.679)

what God's doing in your life is absolutely huge. But I also think this definitely can resonate also with the first responder community because a lot of them have trauma from their childhoods, but also trauma from the profession. The things that they see, the things that they encounter, a lot of times the things that they have to do during the course of their duties, it really takes a toll on them. And unfortunately, sometimes we see that as a result of everything going on, they get isolated, right? They get by themselves, they get alone in their head and they make a decision to take their own life. And we see that, we see the numbers constantly where just first responders, more cops die by suicide than in the line of duty, any other reason. So we look at that and we're like, okay, what's going on? How can we address that? I think one of the things is like getting them to understand like, hey, it's okay for me to reach out. It's okay for me to say, I need help because it doesn't mean that, you know, there might be, there might be a delay in where you're at, right. With your career, but doesn't mean your career is over. doesn't mean that, you know, you're not going to be able to ever be, you know, successful to a certain degree because there's story after story where, you know, that's not the case, right? Where somebody has reached out, somebody has gotten the help they needed and they've been able to to better themselves and to get back to a healthy, balanced life. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy, right? It takes, it's hard work and the struggle is real. It's there, but just the fact that they're not alone. And we see that a lot of people in the law enforcement community, first responder community, to deal with a lot of those critical and traumatic events, a lot of the struggles, a lot of the demons that they're facing is, right? And they turn to alcohol.

Ben Marciano (23:00.745)

Yes.

Critical Aspects (23:13.253)

And sometimes even to drugs, whether that's prescription or not, or it's fueled by the physical aspect where they just work out, work out, work out, work out, but that's only gonna do so much, right? So you've gotta start incorporating those other areas and you've gotta say, I've got some other things going on, I need to reach out and I to make use of resources. We have resources. So obviously as the mayor of Ocala, you've got to influence there with your local law enforcement. what do you think right now is a need in the law enforcement community and what do you think that you could do to help that?

Ben Marciano (23:55.764)

Well, you know, one of the things that I was with, you know, our guys, when we were having dinner, we had, I think it was an appreciation night where we just had our guys, they were sitting around the table and a couple of them were talking about, know what Mayor, it's really hard dealing with the addicts and the homeless population in our community. said, well, tell me about it. And they said, you know, a lot of times they'll say they want help. We'll go get them help. They'll stay for a couple of days and then they're back out on the streets and then they want help again. And, you know, it just, for us, it's very frustrating. It feels like we're just not not really doing anything. said, I said, let me give you another perspective. said, sometimes it does take two, three, four, five, six, maybe seven times for a person to, for the seed to be planted and they, and they do surrender. said, if somebody wants help, get them to help. You never know when it's going to click for them. have heard personally stories of lives that you have saved that you're unaware of. my, my encouragement to you is that if people, are in need then do it. So I think for me, like one of the big things that I've been able to do is educate our guys on mental health, the mental illness in our community, which you guys are seeing, it's rampant. And that, you know, I don't think anybody grew was growing up saying I want to be a drug addict or an alcoholic, right? Like I know I didn't want that for myself. It doesn't mean we justify the behaviors, but we can still have compassion and love. I believe in repercussions. I believe that there has to be consequences, but I also believe that we can show love and compassion and maybe that might spark something because I've been told by people who said, hey, listen, I got arrested by your officer. I went to jail, but on the way, their words and what they said to me and I felt they cared made all the difference. And when I got out, I got help. So I think just continuing to educate our guys on that. But then the other thing is also when I'm spending time with our officers, I love to share my story.

Ben Marciano (25:57.544)

Because I found that they open up with me. And I think that's a big thing is we got to continue to break down the barriers. I think with a lot of officers or deputies or anyone in public safety, they almost feel like they can't talk. I tell people if you don't get it out, it will take you out. Eventually you will implode. So I think the biggest thing is to continue to educate them the importance of you are courageous when you share, when you talk about what you're going through.

And I really have tried to foster that with our department and our chief does a great job. He creates this family atmosphere where they feel comfortable talking about it. So we just want to continue to build on that.

Critical Aspects (26:34.676)

Absolutely, and I appreciate that. I know you're a big supporter of the law enforcement community and profession, obviously, but I think that where you're at, think God's gonna use you as long as you continue to allow Him to use you in whatever way He sees fit. And that's something I think a lot of us need to remember is it doesn't matter what role we're currently filling, is that we're all called for one specific purpose, right? And that is to be an example of Christ is to go out and to be the example to make disciples. And it doesn't matter what capacity that is, doesn't matter what position you have, what role you have, what career you have, right? We all have that standing call in our life. And as long as we seek to live our lives, to glorify God, and to do what it is that He's placed on our heart, then...

We're on the right track, right? We're going in the right direction. And I think sometimes we do get that, we get that mixed up and sometimes then it becomes about us. But that's also kind of the nature of who we are, right? Deep down inside, we're all selfish. We all desire to seek for ourselves, to serve ourselves, but that's something that we continually have to die to each and every day.

Ben Marciano (27:47.966)

Yes.

Ben Marciano (27:51.657)

Yes.

Critical Aspects (28:00.224)

And that's why, you know, that's why I think it's important that we spend that time, you know, preparing ourselves for the day, each and every day, you know, spending that time in prayer, spending that time in scripture to get us ready to, okay, this is what my overall purpose is. And I think when we have that, makes it, it doesn't mean that life is going to be sunshine and rainbows, but it gives us a little bit more, you know, sustainability through the hardship.

Ben Marciano (28:18.184)

Yes.

Critical Aspects (28:29.235)

It gives us that ability to kind of walk through that to get on the other side. And so I appreciate you sharing that. So kind of one last thing before we start wrapping up, because I know that we've got limited time here together. But when you look back at everything and where you're at, and you've already talked about it several times, but how much is your faith in God gotten you to where you're at today?

Ben Marciano (28:31.134)

Yes.

Ben Marciano (28:54.27)

Well, it's everything to me. mean, and there are moments that I go through different seasons of where I'm really connected to God. And there are times that I'm playing God. And that's just the truth. I think that I can control the outcomes. It's very easy for me to get caught back up in them. But what I find is it's pretty quickly that I'm getting back to my knees because I'm in such misery, you know. And the key is always me surrendering to Him.

My sponsor in AA always tells me the world's gonna give you problems every day to practice to either grow or to practice the old behaviors that you've had in your life. like I said, the days that I'm surrendering to him, trusting him, I gotta put forth the effort. People gotta realize that I gotta put forth the effort, but I believe the results up to God. If I'm worrying about results, then I'm not living in faith. so the days that I do that, well, I'm in a great place.

You know, but unfortunately what does happen is that I get caught up in trying to control outcomes and worrying about things. And then I realized I got to surrender. But when I look back and the one of the things I like to do is if I get a little bit off track and I'm worrying about something, I just take a moment to look back on my life. And I think about the moment when I cried out to God and I said, there's a God, you do something? I prayed for God to bring an amazing woman in my life. And he did. I look at where I'm at as the mayor.

God has been with me every step of the way. We're always looking at what's next as opposed to what has he done for me. And when we look back on our lives and we realize how many times he's been there, it's hard to doubt that there's a God and that he's working in our lives. I'm kind of the person, unfortunately, I'll have 99 good things going on and I'm focusing on the one bad, right? And I gotta remind myself that there's so many other good things that are happening around. But no, it is truly about...

God in everything that I do.

Critical Aspects (30:54.455)

Well, I appreciate you sharing that as I choke over here. So sorry about that. But no, I appreciate you sharing that because I think that's important. I think that's important for people to hear and understand that. But so one last thing before we wrap it up, if there's somebody who's listening, who is struggling or just feels like they have no other resources or nowhere else to turn, what is the suggestion you have for them?

Ben Marciano (31:05.29)

Okay.

Critical Aspects (31:24.565)

Some advice you have for them.

Ben Marciano (31:28.66)

Yeah, I mean, first of all, I make myself available to anybody who wants help. I'm on Facebook. If they Google Mayor of Ocala, my cell phone will come up. I'll open doors to get you the help. That's one. Also, if you don't want to come directly through me, SMA, which is a great organization in our community, if you just call them, they will get you the help that is needed. reach out.

It'll be the best decision that you ever make. I truly promise you that.

Critical Aspects (31:58.316)

I appreciate it. So what I'll do is I'll add some of that information into the show notes for anybody. But well, I appreciate you taking the time to come out here and thank you for sharing your story and sharing your just your background and where you're at and also, you know what you look forward to in the future. So I appreciate it. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Ben Marciano (32:17.46)

Thank you for having me. It's been great. Yep.