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Well good morning everybody, thank you for the introduction and
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As I only have a few minutes, I haven't tried to make a formal speech I've tried to put down some points,
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which I feel are important on this day of peace.
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I think it's more important than ever in the world we live in today that we
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We have a vision of what it would be like
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to live in a peaceful world the kind of world we all want
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And then to see what we as individuals can do to try and bring that about
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and
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peace starts within
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We have some how to find peace within ourselves
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So that we can then reach out to others and spread this message of peace
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So how do you find peace within yourself when you live in a really difficult
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situation?
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When perhaps your refugee?
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I think the only way I can think of doing
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This is each day to try to do your best to make the world around you just a little bit better
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And if you can go to sleep each night thinking, well I really did do my best maybe in a very difficult situation
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Then that will give you the kind of feeling that leads to peace and then you're better able to help others you
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This little video showed a young woman from Syria
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saving people
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She said she arrived in Germany and found a new life. Our roots and shoots program in Germany went into those areas
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where the refugees were first housed when they arrived and helped them, particularly the children.
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We've worked with refugees and Tanzania refugees from troubled Burundi and from Congo
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Started our roots and shoots program there made a huge difference
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so that people came and said
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Why does it look better here? Why are the things growing?
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Why are the children playing and smiling when in other parts of the camp it's grim?
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and they're told well this roots and shoots here and
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since you mentioned it roots and shoots began in Tanzania with 12 high school students your kind of age and
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It was young people who wanted to make the world around them better and didn't know how to do it
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So the main message of roots and shoots
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And this is very important for Peace Day is that each and every one of us
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matters and has a role to play in this world even though
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We don't yet perhaps know what that role is.
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And even more important each and every one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day that we live and
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We're in a position of fortunate position of being able to choose what sort of impact we make
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What do we buy? What do we wear? What do we eat? How will those little choices affect future generations and
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One thing which needs to be said on this Day of Peace and that is there is
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War we know about the wars and the conflicts around the world
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There's a new threat of nuclear war with crazy people whose fingers buttons that could annihilate
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mankind
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There's terrorism which is a new completely new I woke up this morning on this peace day
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To hear that in London, and I come from London. There was a bomb on the underground killing people
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What a way to begin the day of peace
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But we'll never have true peace
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Yes, we need to respect each other. Yes, we need to learn more and more about each other's nations
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cultures customs
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We need to learn more about the different religions because religion is causing so much strife
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We need to realize that every single major religion has the Golden Rule do to others as you would have them do to you
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It's the fanatics who are changing the religions into something which is causing conflict
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so
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While we need and must respect each other, while it's important for everyone to live lives of dignity
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this can never come about
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until we also stop the war that we are waging as a species on the natural world on the
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Environment that actually supports us that gives us water and clean air. We're destroying it and
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One of the outcomes of that is climate change
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There's no time to go into all of this, but I think you know what I'm talking about species other species
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we're supposed to share the planet and
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Yet species are disappearing
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Ecosystems are collapsing. That's going to affect us
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But now we realize and we're realizing more and more that other animals also have
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Emotions and feelings they feel pain they feel fear and what are we doing to them? They too are
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refugees and losing their homes they too are homeless. They too are dying and suffering
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So on this peace day when we dream and think about peace
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We should also commit ourselves to doing everything in our power to bring about peace
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It's no good thinking of the big wide world and the big wide Wars
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But think about our own communities our own lives the people surrounding us nature surrounding us
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What can we do to make that a more peaceful place?
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And then knowing that this is everywhere and our roots and shoots program is now in 100 countries
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with members from preschool through University and
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We're trying to grow a critical mass of young people and we are using whoever made that question about
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social media because social media can bring people together
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Around an issue and then we can go out and take action when we know more about it
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so
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Roots and roots and shoots
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Growing a critical mass of young people share
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the same philosophy of respect for other human beings
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respect the nature
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respect for other amazing animals and
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What is so important is hope if we don't have hope we give up we do nothing
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And in this world of violence and fear
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We must have hoped for a better future and that's something each one of us can work for and it's you young people
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Who give me the most hope when you
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understand the problems on are empowered to take action what you are doing around the world is
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unbelievable my greatest reason for hope along with the human brain the resilience of nature and the indomitable human spirit
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That we see in refugees in homeless people overcoming seemingly insurmountable
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problems and
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showing we're part of an extraordinary species
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And we will only achieve our true human potential when head and heart work in harmony