Transcriber: Maria D Reviewer: Denise RQ
I just want to start off with a quick question,
and that simply is, "How many people in the room today
think that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow?"
Yeah? Fair enough. Thank you.
And how many people know this person?
Right? Yeah, I thought so.
This person?
Quite a few of us do.
The thing about these people I just showed
is that they are considered by so many as the leaders of today.
By some people.
But let's look at a few different people.
This person. Does anyone know him?
OK.
This person? Fair enough.
Hopefully you know this person.
(Laughter)
The difference between the first set of people
and this set that I just showed
is that -- other than their age --
the last few are people who truly believe
that you can't accept the word or the idea "no".
In their bank accounts.
The first person I showed was Blake Mycoskie,
the founder of TOMS Shoes,
the second was Jessica Jackley,
who was the co-founder of Kiva,
and the third one was me.
The thing is that this idea of not accepting "no"
has truly played a major role in my life.
When I was four years old, I decided to sell clementines
for an earthquake in India in the province of Gujarat,
and so many people said, "He's four years old, what can he do?"
They said no, but I said no back.
I said no to no.
And without that, this would have never happened;
neither would this have happened: selling cookies for a hurricane in Haiti.
I would have never held HIV and Aids workshops in Tanzania,
I would have never written this book, trying to inspire millions of people,
or led this campaign that tries to inspire people to realize that we have so much
in this amazing country that we live in.
But, see, the thing is--
I've realized, and I still do realize that we have to say no to no.
But this shouldn't be a foreign content for anyone in this room,
because I truly believe that at one point in our life, we've always said no to no.
But we've forgotten that.
I mean, if you think about it,
when we were really young we said no to no.
We said no to the things in our world that we found were completely unjust.
When we were little kids, we said no to our bedtimes,
to our baths, to our vegetables,
but as we grew older, our baths turned into global warming,
our bedtimes turned into hunger and malnutrition,
our vegetables turned into poverty,
but now we sit back.
And now we don't say no to no,
and that is why the world is as it is today.
But it's time to say no to no,
it's time to go back to that original principle.
I find that it is really simple to start saying no to no
through one simple thing that is called, "Listen hard - don't hardly listen."
I think this is something that I get a lot from my parents,
because I talk a lot
(Laughter)
but I'm often told that we have two ears and one mouth for one reason,
and that simple reason is to listen more and talk less.
I'm sure you've all heard it before.
But it's surprisingly hard to do it, especially for me.
I want to do a small exercise, it's called "Repeat after me,"
it's fairly simple, I played it a lot at camp, so I got really good at it.
I'll say a quote, and I just want you to repeat it back to me, it's fairly simple.
So the quote is, "I know you believe you understand what you think I said,
but I'm not sure you realized that what you've heard is not what I meant". Go.
(Laughter)
I thought so. That's exactly what I did when I first heard that.
The thing about listening hard and not hardly listening
is simply that you have to get the main message,
not know word for word what I said.
I'll say that quote again, considerably slower,
and I just want you to think about
what the main message of what I'm trying to say is.
The quote once again is, "I know you believe you understand
what you think I said,
but I'm not sure you realized
that what you heard is not what I meant."
And you can summarize that in three words: you misunderstood me.
And that's it.
Listening hard not hardly listening is something that can foster
so many things in the world today and prevent so many things.
Listening hard not hardly listening, and saying no to no
can prevent things like this.
With the kids in Malawi we had to play with a soccer ball
made out of a pig's heart, wrapped in newspaper and twine.
It can prevent things like this:
when millions of children each and every day are becoming orphans of HIV and Aids.
Things like this: desertification and global warming,
where millions of people are losing their foodstuffs and livestock
while we sit here in Canada, enjoying the privileges we have,
that we take for granted each and every day of our lives.
But it can also foster things like this,
where a man by the name of Wael Ghonim led his country, Egypt,
out of the dark ages through a Facebook group.
Or this 15-year-old, Jordan Romero who climbed Mount Everest
because he said no to no.
So many people told him that he couldn't climb Mount Everest,
but he did.
This guy once said the significant problems we face today
can't be solved at the same level of thinking
that we were at when we created them.
And it is so true.
Because the youth of today have these creative solutions,
but these creative solutions don't have to be hard to implement.
The thing is
-- I'm totally lost, hold on --
when we hear people say
that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow,
we have to tell them that they are wrong.
[And I'll know some of you] if you raise your hands,
but I completely disagree with you.
The thing is the youth of today are not the leaders of tomorrow,
they are the leaders of today.
And that is completely true. I truly believe it.
One simple thing that is that step after listening hard,
that is that step after saying no to no, is something called action.
An action is so special
because it's not taken at any time but now,
it's not taken next week, it's not taken next month,
it's not taken next year, it's not taken tomorrow.
Action is taken now.
So before I end, I just want to hear you say it as loud as you can,
when is action taken?
(Audience) Now!
Guys it's ten in the morning.
Bilaal Rajan: When is action taken? (Audience) Now!
Thank you so much, and remember, "Together we can make a difference."
(Applause)