The Moth Podcast

Episode: “Making Everything Possible”

Date: November 28, 2025
Host: Peter Aguero

Episode Overview

This episode of The Moth Podcast explores the theme of personal transformation and the enduring power of storytelling. Host Peter Aguero presents three deeply personal, live stories—his own and those of Callie Toll and Tom Rich—which navigate childhood scars, harrowing trials, and the process of overcoming life-long insecurities. The stories are anchored in vulnerability, humor, and hard-won wisdom, embodying the Moth’s belief that everyone’s story is valuable and worth sharing.

Key Stories & Discussion Points

1. Peter Aguero’s Childhood Scar and Family Legacy

[02:46–11:49]

• A vivid memory: Peter opens with a story about a small Y-shaped scar on his finger, tracing it back to a treasure hunt orchestrated by his mother when he was four. The tale gently unfolds a morning filled with childlike wonder—maps on paper bags, homemade cake, and the gift of a tiny penknife that belonged to his late uncle Gregory.
• Themes: Mother-son bonds, family loss, the innocence and consequence of childhood curiosity.
• Notable moment: Peter accidentally stabs his finger with the knife, prompting a gentle, loving response from his mother. The knife is soon lost, and Peter muses on the ephemeral nature of inheritance and memory.
• Quote:

  “It was the first intentional time that a son will hurt their mother by accident, on purpose. It happens a lot after that. That’s why every Mother’s Day card, when it says, ‘Happy Mother’s Day from your son,’ is always an apology.”
  (Peter Aguero, 04:25)

• Emotional resonance: Peter’s narrative comes full circle as he acknowledges the scar as a tangible token of a fleeting gift and the love passed from one generation to another.
• Quote:

  “Either way, my mother got to pass on what she’d been holding onto a long time—the spirit and the love of her brother. And then I had to let go the idea of having a knife at 4 years old.”
  (Peter Aguero, 11:12)

2. Callie Toll’s Trial by Brahma Cow

[14:07–20:55]

• High stakes competence: At just 16, Callie is certified in artificial insemination of livestock, teaching adults in her field and feeling “pretty fucking hot to trot.”
• The set-up: During a practical exam, she’s warned about a particularly dangerous Brahma cow but remains confident, skeptical of the concept of 'bad animals.'
• The ordeal: In sub-freezing mud, Callie is attacked twice by the Brahma cow—flung into the air, trampled, and battered, her boots literally knocked off. Cowboys jump into action, with one parkouring across cattle backs to rescue her.
• Vivid sequence:

  “My whole world just becomes mud and pain and things start to get very primal ... I stop registering each individual injury as cattle step on my hands and they knee me in the face...”
  (Callie Toll, 18:36)

• Rescue and aftermath: Severely bruised and suffering internal bleeding, Callie recovers fully but is changed by the experience.
• Lesson:

  “I still don’t believe in bad animals. I have learned, however, to heed a warning when given.”
  (Callie Toll, 20:35)

3. Tom Rich’s Haunted Math Interview and Finding His Voice

[23:00–27:41]

• Early promise and trauma: Tom, a math prodigy, freezes up with his stutter in a high-stakes interview and is asked to write instead of speak—a moment of deep humiliation that influences decades of his life.
• Long shadow:

  “Up until that point, the consequences [of stuttering] were merely being teased … but here, I failed. I lost all confidence about speaking in front of people.”
  (Tom Rich, 24:00)

• A turning point: More than 30 years later, inspired by the movie The King’s Speech, Tom stands up in church and honestly shares his struggle with stuttering for the first time.
• Transformation: That moment unlocks a new willingness to say “yes”—joining boards, changing jobs, speaking more openly.
• Redemption:

  “The more that I did that, I came to realize that that high school interview no longer haunted me.”
  (Tom Rich, 27:19)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On inheritance and loss:

  “You know, maybe Gregory said, ‘No, that’s not for my nephew from wherever he was, he came down and got it and took it.’ Or maybe it just fell in a bush and maybe I just never saw it again.”
  (Peter Aguero, 11:11)

• On humility and warnings:

  “Never does a bad animal it make... I resolved myself: I’ll decide for me if she’s dangerous or just difficult.”
  (Callie Toll, 15:10)

• On community and storytelling:

  “None of this exists without the people who listen. And that’s you. You, arguably, are actually the Moth.”
  (Peter Aguero, 21:26)

Reflections & Episode Theme

• Empathy through storytelling: Aguero underscores that The Moth’s mission is not just to amplify stories but to foster understanding across differences, empower individuals, and build empathy in a disconnected world.
• Listener participation:

  “You are the Moth, and you are here gathering around these stories ... We believe that everyone has a story to tell.”
  (Peter Aguero, 21:31)

Segment Timestamps

• Peter Aguero’s story: 02:46–11:49
• Callie Toll’s story: 14:07–20:55
• Community reflection and call to listeners: 21:09–22:59
• Tom Rich’s story: 23:00–27:41

Summary

This episode is a testament to The Moth's central idea that stories—big and small, comic and tragic—make everything possible. Through Aguero’s tale of childhood and family bonds, Toll's raw and resilient encounter with danger, and Rich's decades-long journey to overcome a haunting insecurity, listeners witness the ways experiences shape us and how, by sharing them, we find connection, healing, and meaning. The episode closes with gratitude for listeners, the real heart of The Moth, and a call to keep the stories—and empathy—flowing.