[Music]
let me start by telling you a story and
this is a real nice story I was walking
down the alley with a friend
sorry down the mall and there was this
guy you know these guys who saw perfumes
in the middle of the alley
of course he started calling us come
come perfumes perfumes my friend I’ll
sell you some perfume cheap cheap cheap
cheap cheap of course I have a frickin
so I decided to ignore my friend and
keep walking suddenly he came to me and
instead of speaking in English he
started speaking to me in an Arabic
specifically Egyptian Arabic I’ve heard
it enough that I can recognize it hello
my friend where are you from brother buy
me some perfumes of course um I just
looked at him like I don’t understand
anything you’re saying and he got really
confused he’s like wait are you know
Egyptian I’m like no I’m Mexican he
laughs he didn’t believe me
apparently he thought it was a joke and
I looked at him and I’m like no my
friend I’m Mexican
he gets happy he laughs yeah yeah
whatever you say brother buy me some
perfumes
he got so happy I looked the Gypsy and
he thought it was Egyptian that he gave
me four perfumes for the price of one
so it was pretty nice these and many
other experiences I found when I came to
study to the other side of the world in
Abu Dhabi and yes I am Mexican but I had
never had to say that before in Mexico
after all
Perla Mexicans it was until I got here
and until my plane landed and until I
was face to face with someone from
another country who had never met a
Mexican before that I had to explain who
I was who my people were and everything
that made me this I found has changed my
life and I’ve come to understand how
powerful conversations with
people can be specifically an
environment full of diversity so today I
come to talk to you about the power of
conversations or environments of
diversity in my time at NYU in the past
two years I’m in my second year I have
learned lots about myself I have learned
a lot about other people and I have
learned lots of the things we shared and
the things that make all of us the same
kind of people know the truth is that I
don’t consider myself the best Mexican I
cannot dance at all I am not too loud
although I’m kind of loud I am proud of
my country but I don’t know too much
about it after all after people ask me
questions I don’t really know what to
say so yeah back at home I did not
consider myself the man the best Mexican
but when I came here I found that I in
some situations was the only Mexican so
I had to talk and raise my voice to
defend who I was and what I thought and
I found out that many times I actually
did not know who I was and I did not
know who what I thought so through these
conversations with other people
especially before and not like me
I’ve come to learn many many things
about myself so I’m going to talk about
how conversations help us understand
ourselves and develop our identities how
conversations help us understand others
and how conversations help us build
bridges in between these two and how
this affects all of us and how this can
change the world so I’m gonna start
talking about how conversations through
diversity can change and can affect who
we are and also what we think about
ourselves and I’ll start with a personal
example and something that I consider is
central to my identity so I’m a
Christian when I told my parents that I
wanted to study in the other side of the
world in a predominantly Muslim country
it would be expectable that they got
really nervous and also really confused
I remember the words of my mom of course
in Spanish I’ll translate for you guys
so why are you going to the other side
of the world it’s so far away and what
if there’s no church there
what if there’s no Christian
what if you can bring your Bible into
the country I had come for candy at
weekend and I was able to explain to her
that that was not the case still because
of the media and many other things our
perception of this place was completely
different to what the place is actually
like still when I came and I found my
Muslim friends or friends from other
religions or friends from other races or
friends friends from other parts of the
world and I engaged in conversation I
discovered how much of my own faith was
lacking and how much I needed to grow
and that is what has happened contrary
to what my mother and my family believed
being in an environment where not
everyone around me is a Christian or a
Catholic has actually made me grow Lots
as I having questioned about Who I am
why I think what I think whether I’m
wrong or whether I’m right
I have been transformed and I’ve found
that I haven’t strengthened my identity
another example back in high school and
middle school I was this short chubby
kid I know it’s hard to believe but if
you come to me I’ll show you pictures I
have tons and I was also really shy I
was the kind of kid who would sit either
in the back so no one would talk to him
or in the front so no one would talk to
him and I would spend lunch time in the
classroom either doing homework or doing
origami or doing other things that I
could do on my own I was a shy kid I was
like that until high school and then
things changed a bit but not too much so
imagine what my parents thought when I
said I wanted to fly to the other side
of the world where I knew no one liked
me there was super-scary but I came and
I found out that I was transformed as I
went to conversations and I was forced
into conversations with other people and
I saw that I could learn so much from
them that shy part of me started to
disappear I still enjoy me time but I’ve
discovered that spending time with other
people is an amazing experience
especially those people are completely
different from you so yes when I came
here and when I began to have these
conversations with people that were not
like me I found that I was able to
to my identity and discover that I’m not
just a Mexican but that I am Who I am
now the other part of conversations and
the power of them is our ability to help
us discover what other people are like
and I’ll give a very simple example and
that is of air people so as I mentioned
before being a Mexican and never
traveling but to the u.s. I knew nothing
about the Middle East my parents knew
nothing about the Middle East my
grandparents knew nothing about the
Middle East and my church knew nothing
about the Middle East except what we saw
in the media except what we saw in the
news except what we saw in the
newspapers and as you may know many of
the things are not good
differentdifferent what I expected as
soon as I landed I founded their people
and the people the Middle East is
amazing and I found that everything that
I thought was completely wrong and that
everything my parents thought was
completely wrong and that many of the
things that my entire country things are
completely wrong I came to find that we
in fact have many many things in common
which I will elaborate in a second but
what I’m trying to say is that through
these conversations I was able to see
things about others that I would not be
able to understand otherwise in those
one-on-one conversations at 3 a.m. with
my Muslim Amira different is that I
learned so much about who they were not
anything I could read on the internet or
hear other people talk about but face to
face now as I mentioned the power of
conversations also helps us understand
what the in-between is and what are the
things that make us human once again I’m
here after traveling from the other side
of the world which is really far away
and I’ve come to discover that I’ll use
the same example air people and in my
case Mexicans are very very similar
which is weird and uncanny
first of all I’ll give you some examples
first of all we are very loud second of
all we have really long names you saw my
third we are very prideful in our food
and our ground must love to feed us
until we explode I don’t pretty sure
that international not just in between
the two of us we are very familial
we love our families and something
interesting and this is a word that
makes every single Arab or Latino person
person tremble the word in Arabic is
ship ship or the translation in Spanish
is Chandler now for the non Arabic or
non-spanish speakers ship ship or
Chandler translate to the shoe there are
mothers or our grandmothers where in the
Arab world if you have noticed children
are super afraid of their grandmother’s
when they are misbehaving because the
grandmother will ravish you and will
slap that kid in Mexico at least I can
tell you it’s much worse not only will
your mother take her shoe off and hit
you with it if you’re not one meter away
if you’re too she’ll throw it and she’ll
hit you regardless of what you do what
I’m trying to say and I know these
examples are very mundane is that at
least when I left home I did not expect
to see myself in a people that were not
my own people and see so much of my
people in a group that was completely
different and all these things I’ve
learned because have engaged in
conversations with others and
conversations where I’m willing to put
myself and make myself vulnerable in
conversations in which I am very
thankful other people have been willing
to make themselves vulnerable and show
me what their true colors are now why
does this matter
that’s things that this matters because
in a world where people put you in a box
as soon as they hear your nationality
and believe me I’m Mexican or where they
put you in a box as soon as they hear
your religion or the color of your skin
it is important that we are willing to
go outside and actually
these things and learn what other people
are like for ourselves in a world where
people want to build walls we should be
wanting to build bridges in between
cultures in between registered races in
between religions in between
nationalities
it took me going to the other side of
the world to find out so I’m here to
tell you and if you decide to believe me
that could really change your lives or
at least change your interactions with
other people that are not like you so I
am saying that through conversations we
are able to understand who we are more
than we would ever be able to understand
that if we stayed in between people that
we know and we feel comfortable in
through conversations we are able to
learn about other people more than we
will be able to understand from the
internet or from the media or from
secondhand knowledge and through
conversations we are able to understand
the in between the things that we share
the things that we can share if we’re
giving if we’re willing to give in and
the things that we do not share as well
after all those are the things that make
us different so the question is not who
you’re going to talk to and the question
is not how far you’re going to go to
talk to a person that is completely
different from you or person that is the
same because I think everyone has a
story and everyone has something to tell
that makes them special regardless of
who they are your question is how
willing are we to listen are willing and
how willing are we to share from what we
are and how this can change our lives
thank you [Applause]
let me start by telling you a story and
this is a real nice story I was walking
down the alley with a friend
sorry down the mall and there was this
guy you know these guys who saw perfumes
in the middle of the alley
of course he started calling us come
come perfumes perfumes my friend I’ll
sell you some perfume cheap cheap cheap
cheap cheap of course I have a frickin
so I decided to ignore my friend and
keep walking suddenly he came to me and
instead of speaking in English he
started speaking to me in an Arabic
specifically Egyptian Arabic I’ve heard
it enough that I can recognize it hello
my friend where are you from brother buy
me some perfumes of course um I just
looked at him like I don’t understand
anything you’re saying and he got really
confused he’s like wait are you know
Egyptian I’m like no I’m Mexican he
laughs he didn’t believe me
apparently he thought it was a joke and
I looked at him and I’m like no my
friend I’m Mexican
he gets happy he laughs yeah yeah
whatever you say brother buy me some
perfumes
he got so happy I looked the Gypsy and
he thought it was Egyptian that he gave
me four perfumes for the price of one
so it was pretty nice these and many
other experiences I found when I came to
study to the other side of the world in
Abu Dhabi and yes I am Mexican but I had
never had to say that before in Mexico
after all
Perla Mexicans it was until I got here
and until my plane landed and until I
was face to face with someone from
another country who had never met a
Mexican before that I had to explain who
I was who my people were and everything
that made me this I found has changed my
life and I’ve come to understand how
powerful conversations with
people can be specifically an
environment full of diversity so today I
come to talk to you about the power of
conversations or environments of
diversity in my time at NYU in the past
two years I’m in my second year I have
learned lots about myself I have learned
a lot about other people and I have
learned lots of the things we shared and
the things that make all of us the same
kind of people know the truth is that I
don’t consider myself the best Mexican I
cannot dance at all I am not too loud
although I’m kind of loud I am proud of
my country but I don’t know too much
about it after all after people ask me
questions I don’t really know what to
say so yeah back at home I did not
consider myself the man the best Mexican
but when I came here I found that I in
some situations was the only Mexican so
I had to talk and raise my voice to
defend who I was and what I thought and
I found out that many times I actually
did not know who I was and I did not
know who what I thought so through these
conversations with other people
especially before and not like me
I’ve come to learn many many things
about myself so I’m going to talk about
how conversations help us understand
ourselves and develop our identities how
conversations help us understand others
and how conversations help us build
bridges in between these two and how
this affects all of us and how this can
change the world so I’m gonna start
talking about how conversations through
diversity can change and can affect who
we are and also what we think about
ourselves and I’ll start with a personal
example and something that I consider is
central to my identity so I’m a
Christian when I told my parents that I
wanted to study in the other side of the
world in a predominantly Muslim country
it would be expectable that they got
really nervous and also really confused
I remember the words of my mom of course
in Spanish I’ll translate for you guys
so why are you going to the other side
of the world it’s so far away and what
if there’s no church there
what if there’s no Christian
what if you can bring your Bible into
the country I had come for candy at
weekend and I was able to explain to her
that that was not the case still because
of the media and many other things our
perception of this place was completely
different to what the place is actually
like still when I came and I found my
Muslim friends or friends from other
religions or friends from other races or
friends friends from other parts of the
world and I engaged in conversation I
discovered how much of my own faith was
lacking and how much I needed to grow
and that is what has happened contrary
to what my mother and my family believed
being in an environment where not
everyone around me is a Christian or a
Catholic has actually made me grow Lots
as I having questioned about Who I am
why I think what I think whether I’m
wrong or whether I’m right
I have been transformed and I’ve found
that I haven’t strengthened my identity
another example back in high school and
middle school I was this short chubby
kid I know it’s hard to believe but if
you come to me I’ll show you pictures I
have tons and I was also really shy I
was the kind of kid who would sit either
in the back so no one would talk to him
or in the front so no one would talk to
him and I would spend lunch time in the
classroom either doing homework or doing
origami or doing other things that I
could do on my own I was a shy kid I was
like that until high school and then
things changed a bit but not too much so
imagine what my parents thought when I
said I wanted to fly to the other side
of the world where I knew no one liked
me there was super-scary but I came and
I found out that I was transformed as I
went to conversations and I was forced
into conversations with other people and
I saw that I could learn so much from
them that shy part of me started to
disappear I still enjoy me time but I’ve
discovered that spending time with other
people is an amazing experience
especially those people are completely
different from you so yes when I came
here and when I began to have these
conversations with people that were not
like me I found that I was able to
to my identity and discover that I’m not
just a Mexican but that I am Who I am
now the other part of conversations and
the power of them is our ability to help
us discover what other people are like
and I’ll give a very simple example and
that is of air people so as I mentioned
before being a Mexican and never
traveling but to the u.s. I knew nothing
about the Middle East my parents knew
nothing about the Middle East my
grandparents knew nothing about the
Middle East and my church knew nothing
about the Middle East except what we saw
in the media except what we saw in the
news except what we saw in the
newspapers and as you may know many of
the things are not good
differentdifferent what I expected as
soon as I landed I founded their people
and the people the Middle East is
amazing and I found that everything that
I thought was completely wrong and that
everything my parents thought was
completely wrong and that many of the
things that my entire country things are
completely wrong I came to find that we
in fact have many many things in common
which I will elaborate in a second but
what I’m trying to say is that through
these conversations I was able to see
things about others that I would not be
able to understand otherwise in those
one-on-one conversations at 3 a.m. with
my Muslim Amira different is that I
learned so much about who they were not
anything I could read on the internet or
hear other people talk about but face to
face now as I mentioned the power of
conversations also helps us understand
what the in-between is and what are the
things that make us human once again I’m
here after traveling from the other side
of the world which is really far away
and I’ve come to discover that I’ll use
the same example air people and in my
case Mexicans are very very similar
which is weird and uncanny
first of all I’ll give you some examples
first of all we are very loud second of
all we have really long names you saw my
third we are very prideful in our food
and our ground must love to feed us
until we explode I don’t pretty sure
that international not just in between
the two of us we are very familial
we love our families and something
interesting and this is a word that
makes every single Arab or Latino person
person tremble the word in Arabic is
ship ship or the translation in Spanish
is Chandler now for the non Arabic or
non-spanish speakers ship ship or
Chandler translate to the shoe there are
mothers or our grandmothers where in the
Arab world if you have noticed children
are super afraid of their grandmother’s
when they are misbehaving because the
grandmother will ravish you and will
slap that kid in Mexico at least I can
tell you it’s much worse not only will
your mother take her shoe off and hit
you with it if you’re not one meter away
if you’re too she’ll throw it and she’ll
hit you regardless of what you do what
I’m trying to say and I know these
examples are very mundane is that at
least when I left home I did not expect
to see myself in a people that were not
my own people and see so much of my
people in a group that was completely
different and all these things I’ve
learned because have engaged in
conversations with others and
conversations where I’m willing to put
myself and make myself vulnerable in
conversations in which I am very
thankful other people have been willing
to make themselves vulnerable and show
me what their true colors are now why
does this matter
that’s things that this matters because
in a world where people put you in a box
as soon as they hear your nationality
and believe me I’m Mexican or where they
put you in a box as soon as they hear
your religion or the color of your skin
it is important that we are willing to
go outside and actually
these things and learn what other people
are like for ourselves in a world where
people want to build walls we should be
wanting to build bridges in between
cultures in between registered races in
between religions in between
nationalities
it took me going to the other side of
the world to find out so I’m here to
tell you and if you decide to believe me
that could really change your lives or
at least change your interactions with
other people that are not like you so I
am saying that through conversations we
are able to understand who we are more
than we would ever be able to understand
that if we stayed in between people that
we know and we feel comfortable in
through conversations we are able to
learn about other people more than we
will be able to understand from the
internet or from the media or from
secondhand knowledge and through
conversations we are able to understand
the in between the things that we share
the things that we can share if we’re
giving if we’re willing to give in and
the things that we do not share as well
after all those are the things that make
us different so the question is not who
you’re going to talk to and the question
is not how far you’re going to go to
talk to a person that is completely
different from you or person that is the
same because I think everyone has a
story and everyone has something to tell
that makes them special regardless of
who they are your question is how
willing are we to listen are willing and
how willing are we to share from what we
are and how this can change our lives
thank you [Applause]
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