[Applause]
the reality is that I know war very very
well I have witnessed time and time
again the way that it can destroy a
person’s soul the way that an individual
ends up utterly shredded by the lack of
comprehension when it comes to how to
process their emotions how to cope with
the physical destruction of everything
that they knew to be real and how a
clause at their mental psyche every
single step of the way and in most cases
it even steals away any shred of dignity
that may remain I just got back from
Raqqa city in Syria that had just been
liberated by the Syrian democratic
forces that is the force that is being
backed by the us-led coalition and it
was liberated from Isis and despite all
of the different war zones that I’ve
been to there was something that was
especially jarring about Raqqa every
other place that I’ve been to
amid the destruction and the devastation
you would always find little bits of
color whether it was a child’s shoe or a
toy or a scrap of a notebook there would
be a hint of the lives that used to
exist there of the happiness that once
existed within these walls and in Raqqa
there was nothing it was gray and it was
impossible to imagine how anyone could
have quite possibly survived and then I
met a family who did at one of the
refugee camps and nezu she was the
mother and she had seven children and
she was telling us about how she had to
send out her nine-year-old daughter
while they were under siege to go and
get supplies for them her nine-year-old
daughter would go out and siphon with a
hose fuel from wrecked out cars so that
she could make bread for the rest of
them and they hid underground in the
darkness and the final days of the
battle for
because they had tried to flee time and
time again they would try to run away
and at every single occasion they
described how Isis would shoot at them
and they would be forced back or even
stopped them and hold a gun to their
heads in fact the little five-year-old
could easily mimic the way that Isis
would say stay back we’re gonna shoot
you and so the nine-year-old went out
and one day the nine-year-old managed to
find a little piece of meat she begged
it off of an Isis fighter and it was so
small it would fit in the palm of your
hand and this was to feed a family of
nine and the other children were so
excited you would think that they had
just seen the most marvelous gift they
could possibly imagine
that’s how deprived they were in those
moments in those final moments and the
reason why Naza had to send out her
nine-year-old was because she couldn’t
send out her 17 year old son Isis was
deliberately conscripted men she
couldn’t send out her fifteen-year-old
daughter because Isis was trying to get
as many brides as possible and they had
in fact already come after her daughter
but she had somehow found the courage to
grab a knife from the kitchen and chase
this fighter out of her house but the
fifteen-year-old had to stay hidden and
so she sent out her nine-year-old now of
course she her entire family were
incredibly relieved to have survived but
now they were living in a refugee camp
and they literally had nothing Nadja
actually coincidentally messaged me a
few days ago and she said you know
Ottawa it’s been about a week since
you’ve been here
you know people been seeing the
reporting about Rocco we know that
there’s been a lot of journalists you
know what’s going on is anyone gonna
help us what do we do doesn’t the world
care about what’s happening
I could not respond to those questions
because if I were to try to say
something reassuring that would probably
be a lie and I could not tell her the
truth that most people turn away when
they see stories from Syria that there
is an apathy when it comes to a lot of
the war zones that are currently out
there and that politicians and global
leaders and the people that could
actually impact her life probably don’t
really on
stand it and maybe even don’t care so I
had to say nothing and that’s not the
first time we as journalists received
these kinds of questions from these
kinds of individuals that have already
been through more than we can ever
possibly imagine and so most mornings
most days in fact I do think that maybe
the world is better off if our planet
was just hit by an asteroid because for
us is journalists we really do feel
especially today that a lot of this
reporting that we’re doing especially
when it comes to the human stories to
the people that are suffering because of
decisions over which they have no
control all of that is happening in a
dark void in a dark abyss but then I
remember the story of a little boy who
taught me one of the most valuable
lessons I have ever learned throughout
my career this little boy’s name was
Yousef it was Iraq it was 2007 and back
then Iraq too was no longer really in
the headlines it was no longer really in
the spotlight people were turning away
when they heard stories about Iraq
Yousef came to our office our CNN
Baghdad Bureau and he had been burnt
unknown masked men had doused him in
gasoline and set him on fire he was just
five years old by the time he got into
our office his face had hardened into
this mask of a scar tissue he couldn’t
open his mouth and he sat in our Baghdad
Bureau eating rice but he had to take
one grain at a time and just shove it
between his lips he was so angry but he
didn’t know how to process these
emotions he was just five years old and
so all you could do to really understand
how tormented this child was was look in
his eyes and he was lashing out at his
sister and his parents didn’t know what
to do and all we could do for them at
that point was say look we can try to
tell you her story but we don’t know
what’s gonna happen
we told Yousef story and the response
was amazing I’m
it came from all over the world people
wanted to help it transcended ethnicity
nationality religion all sorts of
boundaries people came together to help
this little boy in an organization in
Los Angeles ended up agreeing to take on
the case
CNN viewers donated hundreds of
thousands of dollars to help this family
out my best moment of my career was the
moment when I could pick up the phone
and tell his parents your little boy is
gonna get help
and I traveled with them to Los Angeles
and I remember seeing Yusef at the beach
and he was seeing the ocean for the
first time and he ran towards it
screaming and laughing and I looked over
at his parents and they were crying
because it was the first time they’d
heard their son laughing a year what
that story taught me was that the
kindness and compassion of strangers
exists and we may not always see it
every day but just the power of caring
and then of doing something about it
even if it’s a small donation to one
little boy has such a massive profound
impact Yusef today not only wants to be
a doctor to help others the way that he
has been helped he doesn’t remember the
attack anymore ten years on this 15 year
old boy’s life his first memories of
life are not defined by violence they
are defined by the kindness and
compassion that he saw afterwards and it
doesn’t need to be large change that can
impact a person’s life how we react to
one another and sometimes the worst of
situations can have a lasting impact on
our psyche for myself personally about a
year ago to date I was in Mosul I was
embedded with the Iraqi counterterrorism
force with my cameraman and we were
going in as they were part of their
first push to try to retake Mosul from
Isis and our unit our convoy ended up
being ambushed and suicide car bomb came
in and took out the back vehicle of the
convoy the first vehicle when I’ve been
his massive ball of flames and we were
trapped and we ended up seeking shelter
in the middle of all of this mad
in civilian homes and we were in one
house and the frontline was pretty much
the wall of the house the women and
children were hiding in the back corner
the courtyard of the house was filled
with wounded soldiers and streaked with
blood and in the middle of all of this
the home owner makes fried eggs
for us and for the soldiers because
despite it all we were their guests and
that was the only way that they could
also hold on to their humanity and their
dignity but for me that whole nightmare
of an ordeal that I was fortunate enough
to have only lasts for 24 hours was not
defined by the fear that I experienced
it was defined by the kindness that I
saw we know that we cannot stop the wars
but we can help to mitigate the
consequences of it on an individual if
not directly alter them small actions in
ways that we react to one another
especially people that have suffered
violence and trauma has a profound
impact whether it’s a small moment that
just lasts for a day or even less or
whether it’s one that can impact them
over and over again over the course of a
lifetime
I remember about two years ago during
the big flood of refugees to Europe I
was in Hungary covering the refugee
crisis and there was that one day when
the refugees who had been waiting at the
Budapest train station decided that’s it
we’re gonna walk these are individuals
who had not only seen the worst of the
suffering in their own countries the
worst of the violence possibly
imaginable had just crossed the
Mediterranean risking their lives
risking their children’s lives and then
quite literally carried their children
for weeks and suffered every single
humiliation you could possibly imagine
along every step of the route and as
they walked and we were broadcasting
live as were other networks about two
hours into this walk all of a sudden
people began showing up with strollers
the refugees that were around us in that
moment were so overwhelmed at that
little small Jess
sure that they said that they would
never forget it and I believe them when
they say that I believe that that is
going to be one of the key points of a
story that they then tell their children
what I now know is that governments will
continue to fail they will fail but we
do not need to fail each other there are
things that we can do on a small scale
every single day we choose how we react
to one another we cannot turn away from
a new story because it might be
disturbing we can actually go out and
learn more about the root causes of what
is happening and understand a bit more
about what actually needs to be done to
prevent it we can educate our children
about what’s happening in the world
around them teach them not to be afraid
of someone because they may perceive
them or misperceive them as being
different we can teach our children we
can teach ourselves and oblige ourselves
to go out and speak to somebody who
might be the new child or the new family
in town there are little things we can
do every single day that have an immense
and enormous power thank you
you
the reality is that I know war very very
well I have witnessed time and time
again the way that it can destroy a
person’s soul the way that an individual
ends up utterly shredded by the lack of
comprehension when it comes to how to
process their emotions how to cope with
the physical destruction of everything
that they knew to be real and how a
clause at their mental psyche every
single step of the way and in most cases
it even steals away any shred of dignity
that may remain I just got back from
Raqqa city in Syria that had just been
liberated by the Syrian democratic
forces that is the force that is being
backed by the us-led coalition and it
was liberated from Isis and despite all
of the different war zones that I’ve
been to there was something that was
especially jarring about Raqqa every
other place that I’ve been to
amid the destruction and the devastation
you would always find little bits of
color whether it was a child’s shoe or a
toy or a scrap of a notebook there would
be a hint of the lives that used to
exist there of the happiness that once
existed within these walls and in Raqqa
there was nothing it was gray and it was
impossible to imagine how anyone could
have quite possibly survived and then I
met a family who did at one of the
refugee camps and nezu she was the
mother and she had seven children and
she was telling us about how she had to
send out her nine-year-old daughter
while they were under siege to go and
get supplies for them her nine-year-old
daughter would go out and siphon with a
hose fuel from wrecked out cars so that
she could make bread for the rest of
them and they hid underground in the
darkness and the final days of the
battle for
because they had tried to flee time and
time again they would try to run away
and at every single occasion they
described how Isis would shoot at them
and they would be forced back or even
stopped them and hold a gun to their
heads in fact the little five-year-old
could easily mimic the way that Isis
would say stay back we’re gonna shoot
you and so the nine-year-old went out
and one day the nine-year-old managed to
find a little piece of meat she begged
it off of an Isis fighter and it was so
small it would fit in the palm of your
hand and this was to feed a family of
nine and the other children were so
excited you would think that they had
just seen the most marvelous gift they
could possibly imagine
that’s how deprived they were in those
moments in those final moments and the
reason why Naza had to send out her
nine-year-old was because she couldn’t
send out her 17 year old son Isis was
deliberately conscripted men she
couldn’t send out her fifteen-year-old
daughter because Isis was trying to get
as many brides as possible and they had
in fact already come after her daughter
but she had somehow found the courage to
grab a knife from the kitchen and chase
this fighter out of her house but the
fifteen-year-old had to stay hidden and
so she sent out her nine-year-old now of
course she her entire family were
incredibly relieved to have survived but
now they were living in a refugee camp
and they literally had nothing Nadja
actually coincidentally messaged me a
few days ago and she said you know
Ottawa it’s been about a week since
you’ve been here
you know people been seeing the
reporting about Rocco we know that
there’s been a lot of journalists you
know what’s going on is anyone gonna
help us what do we do doesn’t the world
care about what’s happening
I could not respond to those questions
because if I were to try to say
something reassuring that would probably
be a lie and I could not tell her the
truth that most people turn away when
they see stories from Syria that there
is an apathy when it comes to a lot of
the war zones that are currently out
there and that politicians and global
leaders and the people that could
actually impact her life probably don’t
really on
stand it and maybe even don’t care so I
had to say nothing and that’s not the
first time we as journalists received
these kinds of questions from these
kinds of individuals that have already
been through more than we can ever
possibly imagine and so most mornings
most days in fact I do think that maybe
the world is better off if our planet
was just hit by an asteroid because for
us is journalists we really do feel
especially today that a lot of this
reporting that we’re doing especially
when it comes to the human stories to
the people that are suffering because of
decisions over which they have no
control all of that is happening in a
dark void in a dark abyss but then I
remember the story of a little boy who
taught me one of the most valuable
lessons I have ever learned throughout
my career this little boy’s name was
Yousef it was Iraq it was 2007 and back
then Iraq too was no longer really in
the headlines it was no longer really in
the spotlight people were turning away
when they heard stories about Iraq
Yousef came to our office our CNN
Baghdad Bureau and he had been burnt
unknown masked men had doused him in
gasoline and set him on fire he was just
five years old by the time he got into
our office his face had hardened into
this mask of a scar tissue he couldn’t
open his mouth and he sat in our Baghdad
Bureau eating rice but he had to take
one grain at a time and just shove it
between his lips he was so angry but he
didn’t know how to process these
emotions he was just five years old and
so all you could do to really understand
how tormented this child was was look in
his eyes and he was lashing out at his
sister and his parents didn’t know what
to do and all we could do for them at
that point was say look we can try to
tell you her story but we don’t know
what’s gonna happen
we told Yousef story and the response
was amazing I’m
it came from all over the world people
wanted to help it transcended ethnicity
nationality religion all sorts of
boundaries people came together to help
this little boy in an organization in
Los Angeles ended up agreeing to take on
the case
CNN viewers donated hundreds of
thousands of dollars to help this family
out my best moment of my career was the
moment when I could pick up the phone
and tell his parents your little boy is
gonna get help
and I traveled with them to Los Angeles
and I remember seeing Yusef at the beach
and he was seeing the ocean for the
first time and he ran towards it
screaming and laughing and I looked over
at his parents and they were crying
because it was the first time they’d
heard their son laughing a year what
that story taught me was that the
kindness and compassion of strangers
exists and we may not always see it
every day but just the power of caring
and then of doing something about it
even if it’s a small donation to one
little boy has such a massive profound
impact Yusef today not only wants to be
a doctor to help others the way that he
has been helped he doesn’t remember the
attack anymore ten years on this 15 year
old boy’s life his first memories of
life are not defined by violence they
are defined by the kindness and
compassion that he saw afterwards and it
doesn’t need to be large change that can
impact a person’s life how we react to
one another and sometimes the worst of
situations can have a lasting impact on
our psyche for myself personally about a
year ago to date I was in Mosul I was
embedded with the Iraqi counterterrorism
force with my cameraman and we were
going in as they were part of their
first push to try to retake Mosul from
Isis and our unit our convoy ended up
being ambushed and suicide car bomb came
in and took out the back vehicle of the
convoy the first vehicle when I’ve been
his massive ball of flames and we were
trapped and we ended up seeking shelter
in the middle of all of this mad
in civilian homes and we were in one
house and the frontline was pretty much
the wall of the house the women and
children were hiding in the back corner
the courtyard of the house was filled
with wounded soldiers and streaked with
blood and in the middle of all of this
the home owner makes fried eggs
for us and for the soldiers because
despite it all we were their guests and
that was the only way that they could
also hold on to their humanity and their
dignity but for me that whole nightmare
of an ordeal that I was fortunate enough
to have only lasts for 24 hours was not
defined by the fear that I experienced
it was defined by the kindness that I
saw we know that we cannot stop the wars
but we can help to mitigate the
consequences of it on an individual if
not directly alter them small actions in
ways that we react to one another
especially people that have suffered
violence and trauma has a profound
impact whether it’s a small moment that
just lasts for a day or even less or
whether it’s one that can impact them
over and over again over the course of a
lifetime
I remember about two years ago during
the big flood of refugees to Europe I
was in Hungary covering the refugee
crisis and there was that one day when
the refugees who had been waiting at the
Budapest train station decided that’s it
we’re gonna walk these are individuals
who had not only seen the worst of the
suffering in their own countries the
worst of the violence possibly
imaginable had just crossed the
Mediterranean risking their lives
risking their children’s lives and then
quite literally carried their children
for weeks and suffered every single
humiliation you could possibly imagine
along every step of the route and as
they walked and we were broadcasting
live as were other networks about two
hours into this walk all of a sudden
people began showing up with strollers
the refugees that were around us in that
moment were so overwhelmed at that
little small Jess
sure that they said that they would
never forget it and I believe them when
they say that I believe that that is
going to be one of the key points of a
story that they then tell their children
what I now know is that governments will
continue to fail they will fail but we
do not need to fail each other there are
things that we can do on a small scale
every single day we choose how we react
to one another we cannot turn away from
a new story because it might be
disturbing we can actually go out and
learn more about the root causes of what
is happening and understand a bit more
about what actually needs to be done to
prevent it we can educate our children
about what’s happening in the world
around them teach them not to be afraid
of someone because they may perceive
them or misperceive them as being
different we can teach our children we
can teach ourselves and oblige ourselves
to go out and speak to somebody who
might be the new child or the new family
in town there are little things we can
do every single day that have an immense
and enormous power thank you
you
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