Thank you, Leah, and thank you guys for being here.
I just think this is such an amazing program, don't you guys?
Yeah? Yeah.
(Applause)
But what I like most about this program is how we can have people listening
directly to these talks, like you guys are.
We can have people listening a couple miles away,
and we can have people listening a couple hundred miles away,
and even a couple hundred thousand miles away.
But yet, we're all here. All of us are living, present -- but most all,
here, on Planet Earth.
In case you didn't know what the planet looked like.
No matter what difference you might have with another person,
the one constant commonality between every human and the next is that
we all live on Earth.
The planet is forever our home, our playground, and completely
at our disposal, so long as we allow it to be.
So why would we ignore it?
Statistics show that, on average, a person spends about 90% of their time indoors.
Think about that for a second. 90% of your time is spent hiding away from nature.
Now, before I move on, I want to be clear. This isn't one of those talks about
putting technology down, or going to live out in the woods.
No. I love technology; I think it's a beautiful thing.
But I'm here today to emphasize your need to balance
both that time you spend indoors and with technology,
and the time that you spend outdoors with nature,
because I believe that nature is a spiritual experience.
Like anything, you have to know what you're getting into before you get into it.
First, I'm going to explain to you guys why nature is important.
So, why is nature important? Well, according to scientific research, we have no idea.
The answer is, there is no answer! And there's never going to be one.
Yet, for some reason, most of the religions practiced today
believe in valuing nature in some sort.
Don't believe me? According to religionanswers.com, at least
Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism believe in
practicing something called stewardship, or the belief that humans are obliged
to take care of the Earth.
Otherwise, we have some of the tribal communities that usually integrate
nature into their religion, as well.
Now, this map behind me has colored in all of those regions that I just mentioned.
In short, if all of the belief systems that I just mentioned value nature,
then all of the colored regions on this map value nature as well.
How can nature not be important if the world believes that it is?
And if this isn't proof enough for you, then consider my earlier metaphor
of nature as the playground for humanity.
Well, I'm pretty willing to bet that every mom in this room is ready to jump up
and tell you why letting their kids play is important.
Otherwise, you might end up with children that look like this.
(Laughter)
Or like this.
(Laughter)
Or maybe even like this --
(Laughter)
While you end up like this.
(Laughter)
That's kind of scary.
Well, the same concept applies to us. When we don't engage with nature,
we become a lot more stressed, irritable, and lose our zest for life.
I didn't always understand this concept.
In fact, I used to be that kid that stayed indoors all day and updated Facebook
every two minutes. That's me.
But once upon a time, I stumbled upon a book called Soul Surfer. It's a book
about the then 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm
in a shark attack in 2003. The book was actually recently made into a movie
with the same title. I highly recommend seeing it, if you guys haven't.
Anyways, once I read this book, I was completely fascinated with her sport -
surfing.
I had always loved boogie boarding in New Jersey, so I basically figured
that surfing was the same thing, only a little farther out into the ocean.
I was completely wrong! In the summer of 2010,
I signed up for a local surf camp in New Jersey.
For the half year previous to this, I had used every ounce of my energy
to research every aspect about surfing.
So when my instructor sat us down to go over the surf terms and safety instructions,
I zoned out.
But for your reference, I displayed two of those terms here on the screen.
First, we have "the outside", which is the area that the surfer sits and waits for
the wave to come so he can catch it. This is where we're trying to get to.
Then we have "the inside", which is where the waves are breaking.
It's the most dangerous part of the ocean, and, as a surfer, my job is
to get to the outside without getting pounded by the waves on the inside.
Unfortunately, after only about a minute of being out in the water,
I ultimately failed at this concept.
I found myself caught on the inside. A wave came and crashed on me,
held me under, and allowed me to swim up, but only in time for another wave to come,
crash on me, hold me under again, and slam my board across my head.
Yet, for some reason, I've labeled this one of the best experiences of my life.
Why? Because in that moment, nature grabbed me by the neck, yanked me up,
and said - metaphorically - "Get your act together, and figure out what you want
to get out of life."
And so I did. That year, I went home and signed up for the swim team
at my school so I could build my strength.
The next summer, I came back to New Jersey, and finally stood up on a wave.
But let me tell you something. Even though standing up on that wave probably lasted
five seconds, it felt like at least three minutes. In slow motion. It was amazing, and I can
never fully put into words what it felt like as I saw how
not a single drop of water was out of place that day,
and how vibrant the colors were as the seashells passed me with my feet.
I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, but it's true. I can never put into words
how amazing that experience was, because it was pure beauty.
But that is why I urge you to become caught on the inside like I was.
You will never be able to comprehend the enormity of the experiences
you can gain if you never go out and give nature a chance to blow your mind.
You may not realize it now, but understand this.
You need to engage with nature regularly.
Just remember that surfing isn't the only way you can do that.
Anywhere you are, you can do it. You can go biking down a trail
you've never gone down before, you can go climb a tree!
Just go find what you love and do it, because I promise you without that
balance between the indoors and the outdoors, there will always be
something missing. Thank you.
(Applause)