I would like to start my talk by
implanting two questions into each and
every one of you have you ever been
contemptuous towards somebody has
somebody else ever been contemptuous
towards you this is something that
actually happens a lot with humans
contempt
especially in adolescence a time of
desire confusion and transformation we
are advanced complicated creatures but
our nature is still that of animals
animals are defined as multicellular
organisms that can move on entirely
acquire food and digest that food and we
in fact do those things now you may not
believe me but I’m here to tell you the
truth we are all animals however the
life stuffs we have created seem distant
so what other animals may have
accomplished in the grand scheme of
things we have created jobs we have
created homes we have created
civilizations no other animal on earth
has ever been as innovative as us
considering that we have even
domesticated other animals that we can
communicate with each other through
languages and that we are far more
civilized than elephants and chimps or
any other animal that we know of so if
we are in fact so evolved I ask you why
is our behavior so similar to theirs let
me explain animals living groups and
within those groups they have rankings
for reason such as age or strength and
some of the animals are considered more
important than others some of the
animals are considered better than
others for example chimps for chimps
age is a big factor when it comes to
deciding who becomes the alpha male as
well as abilities in fighting and
protecting their own by demonstrating
intelligence and physical strength now
to visualize chimps interacting this way
between them seems very distant from the
way that we humans make decisions and
how we socialize but is it really that
different it can be clearly seen that in
high school specifically in our high
school there’s a social hierarchy
it is based similarly to the hierarchy
of the chimps I just described it is
based on traits that we as humans may
consider desirable such as extraversion
cleverness athletic abilities popularity
and timpz also fight for a spot at the
top of the rarities not necessarily by
physically attacking the other members
more often they threaten and taunt each
others by using gestures and that tool
can be seen in US but it’s slightly
different have you ever been part of a
conversation and someone tries to
impress others or someone tries to bring
somebody else down an obvious example of
this is the scenario in which two guys
are talking to a girl and they both
think she’s attractive so they
indirectly fight for her trying to raise
their own image by bragging and pushing
the other one down and it’s just like
the chimps except instead of physically
attacking and threatening we humans tend
to passive aggressively lower other
self-esteem and status thereby raising
our own it may be easy for you to
identify those who have the most
influence in our school those were at
the top of a hurricane these people are
generally considered more attractive
more athletic taller stronger smarter
it’s unwritten but we seem to hold it as
law everybody knows it and everybody is
aware of it but it is not often
mentioned a question I frequently ask
myself is what would happen if the
most popular student were suddenly nice
to at least popular if the alpha-male
hold the hand for the one at the bottom
vo mega allow me to paint you a picture
there are two students student a his
name is John and student B his name is
Arnold John is very extroverted he’s
popular he’s athletic and he has a lot
of friends meanwhile Arnold is the
complete opposite
he’s interpretive he’s quiet shy and he
has very few friends now from my
experience John wouldn’t generally talk
much to Arnold but what if he did what
if he was suddenly very nice to Arnold
obviously our learner will be happy he’d
be happy because he feel that he’s been
accepted but he would not be draining
John’s energy John might actually feel
good about it too knowing that he’s made
somebody else happy also by doing this
John exposes himself to something
interesting and great he opens a doorway
through the possibility that this person
that others looked at contemptuously
this person that others prejudged might
actually have a great personality he
might actually be a great person it’s
clearly a win-win situation as a
freshman I discovered something amazing
I used to look at people outside of my
social circle people that I didn’t know
and I created these images in my mind of
who I thought they were and I’d assume
that truly were in fact and for unknown
reasons I disliked them without having
ever met them this is the nature of
prejudice there is a particular senior
that I really got to know this year and
I always knew who he was I knew what he
did and I knew his friends world and I
am ashamed to say that a preacher’s
thing I assumed there was a person with
very little insight about the world in a
very obvious and shadow personality and
it took me one experience it took me one
conversation with this person to change
my whole perspective
or what is thought of him and it turns
out he’s a very nice person with
thoughts incidentally very similar to
mine and as I kept meeting people with
an open mind this kept happening and by
paying attention to this
I learned something crucial the benefit
of the doubt Highschool is big and it is
filled with a lot of people and you
shouldn’t make assumptions about any of
them because you can never really know
about anything until you’ve experienced
it it is the same that as a community we
divide ourselves when it will be so
simple for us to be united this can be
changed by every person making by every
individual person making a difference in
their own inner circles whether you’re
at the top or at the bottom of the
hierarchy treat everybody the same treat
everybody as equals because we are
people should be equally influential
therefore if as a group we start acting
more inclusively that change might
spread take a look at fish for example
in a school fish if one fish slightly
moves away towards another direction the
rest quickly follow and this can be
applied to the human world to
celebrities being the leaders they start
trends start wearing different clothes
and people follow chips don’t only fight
for a spot at the top they work together
too like many other animal species they
work cooperatively to obtain the best
available resources their cousins the
Wolves travel and hunt in packs and
within their packs they form strong
social bonds they are very loyal animals
it has been said – at times even
sacrifice themselves for other members
of their pack general knowledge is that
we are in fact the most advanced and
smartest beings so that is in fact true
why can’t our why can’t the bedrock of
our behavior be cooperation what if
everybody had the same ranking what if
everybody could feel confident with
themselves I at times of felt without a
place at school
teens tend to be
with so many insecurities I have
insecurities because I am afraid I used
to be afraid that my social ranking
would get low or that it could get
lowered I used to be afraid that I would
be left without the love of those that
were nearest to me because not because
of not following their standards because
not being normal
ask yourselves in social situations are
you always yourself desiring acceptance
people tend to assimilate the
personalities and behaviors of those
they want acceptance from and this can
be really – peer pressure – it may not
be in you to do the things that your
friends do but you do them anyway
because you want to feel like a part of
the group and that’s wrong there should
be no fear of being judged for being
yourself people don’t need that pressure
because the truth is everybody has
problems and some of those problems are
tough to solve on their own I can say in
my experience that whenever I’ve been
depressed or whenever I’ve been having
trouble in my life I’ve had or shoulder
to rest my head on and that’s felt great
support feels great I mean you see
someone walking in a hallway and you
have no idea what is going on inside
their head you have no idea what they’re
going through and it could be nothing or
it could be the worst but either way it
doesn’t take away from your day to be
nice to them and in turn he might be
making their day he might even be saving
their life Gautama Buddha how very
iconic he said it once famously said
thousands of candles can be lighted from
a single candle and the life of the
candle will not be sordid happiness
never decreases by being shared
personally I have had the opportunity to
connect with a group of people to feel
connected with a group of people my
soccer team as individuals we play for
one team and in the team it is often
repeated that we are one and that we are
all there for each other because when
one Falls there will always be ten
others
to help that person get back up and that
feeling of having a community of people
unconditionally there for you if you
need them feels magnificent so even as I
came to these realizations what provoked
me to address you about them today when
I was in sixth and seventh grade I
hadn’t really thought about it that much
I knew it was the case but I never
really admitted it to myself and I
probably would have denied it if anybody
asked me but I think I’m some level of
consciousness I knew that I was in fact
a victim of peer pressure I wanted my
friends to accept me so I did some
things maybe I didn’t really even want
to do I wanted to be my accepted by my
brother
so I assimilated some things about his
way of life that were relieved in part
of my own identity and if I could I
would go back in time and I will talk to
myself and I would tell my younger self
that I am happiest being confident in
Who I am and being less concerned it
what other people think of me I’ve
learned that happiness should be shared
and we should all support each other
it’s really not that complicated
be social be welcoming be nice take a
lesson from the animals to act
cooperatively and let’s do it let’s make
ourselves worthy of the buildings we
have created and for once and for all
get rid of contempt thank you
[Applause]
implanting two questions into each and
every one of you have you ever been
contemptuous towards somebody has
somebody else ever been contemptuous
towards you this is something that
actually happens a lot with humans
contempt
especially in adolescence a time of
desire confusion and transformation we
are advanced complicated creatures but
our nature is still that of animals
animals are defined as multicellular
organisms that can move on entirely
acquire food and digest that food and we
in fact do those things now you may not
believe me but I’m here to tell you the
truth we are all animals however the
life stuffs we have created seem distant
so what other animals may have
accomplished in the grand scheme of
things we have created jobs we have
created homes we have created
civilizations no other animal on earth
has ever been as innovative as us
considering that we have even
domesticated other animals that we can
communicate with each other through
languages and that we are far more
civilized than elephants and chimps or
any other animal that we know of so if
we are in fact so evolved I ask you why
is our behavior so similar to theirs let
me explain animals living groups and
within those groups they have rankings
for reason such as age or strength and
some of the animals are considered more
important than others some of the
animals are considered better than
others for example chimps for chimps
age is a big factor when it comes to
deciding who becomes the alpha male as
well as abilities in fighting and
protecting their own by demonstrating
intelligence and physical strength now
to visualize chimps interacting this way
between them seems very distant from the
way that we humans make decisions and
how we socialize but is it really that
different it can be clearly seen that in
high school specifically in our high
school there’s a social hierarchy
it is based similarly to the hierarchy
of the chimps I just described it is
based on traits that we as humans may
consider desirable such as extraversion
cleverness athletic abilities popularity
and timpz also fight for a spot at the
top of the rarities not necessarily by
physically attacking the other members
more often they threaten and taunt each
others by using gestures and that tool
can be seen in US but it’s slightly
different have you ever been part of a
conversation and someone tries to
impress others or someone tries to bring
somebody else down an obvious example of
this is the scenario in which two guys
are talking to a girl and they both
think she’s attractive so they
indirectly fight for her trying to raise
their own image by bragging and pushing
the other one down and it’s just like
the chimps except instead of physically
attacking and threatening we humans tend
to passive aggressively lower other
self-esteem and status thereby raising
our own it may be easy for you to
identify those who have the most
influence in our school those were at
the top of a hurricane these people are
generally considered more attractive
more athletic taller stronger smarter
it’s unwritten but we seem to hold it as
law everybody knows it and everybody is
aware of it but it is not often
mentioned a question I frequently ask
myself is what would happen if the
most popular student were suddenly nice
to at least popular if the alpha-male
hold the hand for the one at the bottom
vo mega allow me to paint you a picture
there are two students student a his
name is John and student B his name is
Arnold John is very extroverted he’s
popular he’s athletic and he has a lot
of friends meanwhile Arnold is the
complete opposite
he’s interpretive he’s quiet shy and he
has very few friends now from my
experience John wouldn’t generally talk
much to Arnold but what if he did what
if he was suddenly very nice to Arnold
obviously our learner will be happy he’d
be happy because he feel that he’s been
accepted but he would not be draining
John’s energy John might actually feel
good about it too knowing that he’s made
somebody else happy also by doing this
John exposes himself to something
interesting and great he opens a doorway
through the possibility that this person
that others looked at contemptuously
this person that others prejudged might
actually have a great personality he
might actually be a great person it’s
clearly a win-win situation as a
freshman I discovered something amazing
I used to look at people outside of my
social circle people that I didn’t know
and I created these images in my mind of
who I thought they were and I’d assume
that truly were in fact and for unknown
reasons I disliked them without having
ever met them this is the nature of
prejudice there is a particular senior
that I really got to know this year and
I always knew who he was I knew what he
did and I knew his friends world and I
am ashamed to say that a preacher’s
thing I assumed there was a person with
very little insight about the world in a
very obvious and shadow personality and
it took me one experience it took me one
conversation with this person to change
my whole perspective
or what is thought of him and it turns
out he’s a very nice person with
thoughts incidentally very similar to
mine and as I kept meeting people with
an open mind this kept happening and by
paying attention to this
I learned something crucial the benefit
of the doubt Highschool is big and it is
filled with a lot of people and you
shouldn’t make assumptions about any of
them because you can never really know
about anything until you’ve experienced
it it is the same that as a community we
divide ourselves when it will be so
simple for us to be united this can be
changed by every person making by every
individual person making a difference in
their own inner circles whether you’re
at the top or at the bottom of the
hierarchy treat everybody the same treat
everybody as equals because we are
people should be equally influential
therefore if as a group we start acting
more inclusively that change might
spread take a look at fish for example
in a school fish if one fish slightly
moves away towards another direction the
rest quickly follow and this can be
applied to the human world to
celebrities being the leaders they start
trends start wearing different clothes
and people follow chips don’t only fight
for a spot at the top they work together
too like many other animal species they
work cooperatively to obtain the best
available resources their cousins the
Wolves travel and hunt in packs and
within their packs they form strong
social bonds they are very loyal animals
it has been said – at times even
sacrifice themselves for other members
of their pack general knowledge is that
we are in fact the most advanced and
smartest beings so that is in fact true
why can’t our why can’t the bedrock of
our behavior be cooperation what if
everybody had the same ranking what if
everybody could feel confident with
themselves I at times of felt without a
place at school
teens tend to be
with so many insecurities I have
insecurities because I am afraid I used
to be afraid that my social ranking
would get low or that it could get
lowered I used to be afraid that I would
be left without the love of those that
were nearest to me because not because
of not following their standards because
not being normal
ask yourselves in social situations are
you always yourself desiring acceptance
people tend to assimilate the
personalities and behaviors of those
they want acceptance from and this can
be really – peer pressure – it may not
be in you to do the things that your
friends do but you do them anyway
because you want to feel like a part of
the group and that’s wrong there should
be no fear of being judged for being
yourself people don’t need that pressure
because the truth is everybody has
problems and some of those problems are
tough to solve on their own I can say in
my experience that whenever I’ve been
depressed or whenever I’ve been having
trouble in my life I’ve had or shoulder
to rest my head on and that’s felt great
support feels great I mean you see
someone walking in a hallway and you
have no idea what is going on inside
their head you have no idea what they’re
going through and it could be nothing or
it could be the worst but either way it
doesn’t take away from your day to be
nice to them and in turn he might be
making their day he might even be saving
their life Gautama Buddha how very
iconic he said it once famously said
thousands of candles can be lighted from
a single candle and the life of the
candle will not be sordid happiness
never decreases by being shared
personally I have had the opportunity to
connect with a group of people to feel
connected with a group of people my
soccer team as individuals we play for
one team and in the team it is often
repeated that we are one and that we are
all there for each other because when
one Falls there will always be ten
others
to help that person get back up and that
feeling of having a community of people
unconditionally there for you if you
need them feels magnificent so even as I
came to these realizations what provoked
me to address you about them today when
I was in sixth and seventh grade I
hadn’t really thought about it that much
I knew it was the case but I never
really admitted it to myself and I
probably would have denied it if anybody
asked me but I think I’m some level of
consciousness I knew that I was in fact
a victim of peer pressure I wanted my
friends to accept me so I did some
things maybe I didn’t really even want
to do I wanted to be my accepted by my
brother
so I assimilated some things about his
way of life that were relieved in part
of my own identity and if I could I
would go back in time and I will talk to
myself and I would tell my younger self
that I am happiest being confident in
Who I am and being less concerned it
what other people think of me I’ve
learned that happiness should be shared
and we should all support each other
it’s really not that complicated
be social be welcoming be nice take a
lesson from the animals to act
cooperatively and let’s do it let’s make
ourselves worthy of the buildings we
have created and for once and for all
get rid of contempt thank you
[Applause]
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