AUSTIN, Texas — It’s been a tough year for Texans overcoming a trifecta of obstacles including racial injustice, the coronavirus pandemic and a deadly winter storms. Fortunately, folks across Texas are proving they are tougher than the challenges they have faced.

Oscar-winning actor, professor and author Matthew McConaughey spoke with Spectrum News 1's Dr. Nicole Cross about the green light of hope he sees coming out of the red lights Texans have faced over the past year.

“Your new book, Greenlights , is all about catching those green lights. Talk to us about the experience of writing that book and what you hope readers will get out of it,” Cross inquired.

“Those stories sort of give you why the title is Greenlights,” McConaughey said. He continued with an explanation of each light and its purpose in life:

“We have red and yellow lights in our life. We don’t like those [lights], they slow us down. They stop us. They’re hardships, they’re crises. Sometimes, they’re just introspection, pauses. We don’t like that. We like green lights. We like to just go. We need the yellows and the reds to grow, to learn lessons, to evolve. On the cover of the book, [there are] three green lights, because all of the reds and the yellows are eventually in the rear-view mirror of our life. You talked about my father earlier, his death was a major red light, but I just explained and shared some of the ways his passing actually gave me a lot of green lights. It’s something that I’m finding out, extremely happily, that a lot of people are seeing themselves in.”

“I also appreciate that though we are all going through so many different red and yellow lights with the incidences of racial injustice, the COVID-19 pandemic, and of course those deadly winter storms, you’ve really been on the forefront--having those tough conversations, teaching folks how to make a face mask, and now putting on this fundraiser,” Cross expressed.  “Why are efforts like those so important to you?”

“As much as this has been a red light year and a red light 15 months - what’s the next disaster that’s coming because something else is coming, too. But, we’ve got to come out of this time growing. We’ve got to turn a page here. I think our floor has been shook enough where we can actually, as a people, turn the page. Our natural human response is to go back to how it was. I think enough has changed now that there’s not an old normal anymore. There’s got to be a new normal. We’ve got to turn the page, maybe even start a new chapter in our lives as people; that would be a green light asset from the hardships and the challenges and disruption of the last year and a half,” McConaughey responded.

"We're Texas," presented by Matthew McConaughey, to benefit victims of the Texas Winter storms, will be televised on Spectrum News 1 Sunday, March 21 at 7 p.m. CST. All week, Spectrum News 1 will highlight interviews with McConaughey and some of the people affected by the storm.