[Music]
I was having a magnificent year the
company I’ve started just three years
ago was winning all sorts of awards we
were on top of the world so we decided
to take a couple of well-earned holidays
we learnt to dive in a local dive center
and we found ourselves in some exotic
places like the Maldives then we took
our first Christmas away from the family
ever
we’re in Sri Lanka we had had a
fantastic Christmas party the night
before put on by the people that owned
the dive center and we’d stumbled up to
bed in the early hours of the morning
promising that we’d meet everyone for a
nine o’clock dive well we made it to
breakfast then we decided to go back to
bed and nurse our hangover later on we
heard this pudding and I thought great
we picked a hotel that’s doing building
work and we then could hear all this
swishing like water when you it was a
beautiful day so Stuart went to the
window and he pulled back the curtain
and he said um I think you’d better come
and look at this I knew by the voice the
tone that he used that something was up
so I shot out a bed and looked out the
window and from our third-floor hotel
room I looked down see everywhere the
dive centre next door it’s a roof was
being lifted up by the waves and carried
away I couldn’t believe it I couldn’t
comprehend what I was seeing the
violation I felt was incredible
everything I knew and had learnt about
the seaside was wrong
there was no sloping Beach down to the
rippling waves all of a sudden it was
all around us as far as the eye could
see we looked around
Hotel and inland and just water carrying
buses and everything just down the gall
road like it was a river
it’s incredible what your body does in
that situation immediately always sick
and the smell of this water was just
incredible
sewage oil diesel death was vile that
relentless banging that we heard was a
ship being banged into the side of the
hotel all of this swishing was the palm
trees in the water it was just too much
to comprehend and there was a lot a
single person in sight there’s like the
end of the world I didn’t understand
what had happened was this a nuclear
bomb that had gone off back in old
Blighty was this the butterfly effect of
that I managed to get one text message
out to my sister and her Stewart sister
and it said there’s been a bit of a
flood but we’re okay because I just
couldn’t comprehend what it was so it
was the tsunami I just want to put
things into context for you so I’ll know
what this is let’s imagine that the
earthquake that released energy from the
earth was measured in the equivalent of
atomic bombs
how many atomic bombs do you think it
might have been equivalent to normally
people say two and I say more they say
ten say more they say 20 and I go keep
going so I’ll put you out of your misery
the energy that was released from the
Earth’s crust that caused that
earthquake was the equivalent to 28,000
Hiroshima bombs can you imagine that
here’s some stats
30 kilometers underneath the seafloor
that’s when a distance of 1,200
kilometers was shifted 20 meters 20
meters that’s how much of the earth
shifted and it created the biggest
natural disaster in our history almost
250,000 people lost their lives
immediately almost 500,000 in total when
you think about the related diseases and
the worst thing of it all a third of
them were children
that was our hotel room the one in the
top corner
can you imagine looking down and seeing
nothing but see you see the dice Center
roof here that was being ripped off and
carried away it was just too much to
understand I don’t know how long it was
before we made it out of the hotel we
were half waiting half swimming we were
wearing the most sensible things we can
find everything all the trappings of the
Western world we left behind in our
hotel room it just had no currency
anymore
the things that are important the things
we could barter with we had no idea what
was going on we just knew that we needed
to be clever about this and then again
some hours later one of the dice center
managers boys found us and forced march
us to Jimmy’s house Jimmy was a village
elder and he lived really high up on the
hill and we were reunited with some of
our friends in his garden so there are
about a hundred and fifty hundred and
twenty hundred and fifty of us in that
garden and that is where I spent the
most valuable week of my life the first
thing that we did even though we all
spoke different languages and came from
different cultures is we came together I
remember we had one mobile phone another
mobile phone another none of them worked
we entered at patching together one
phone somebody else’s SIM card somebody
else’s battery somebody else’s power
supply and all of a sudden we had one
working mobile phone I then made sure
that every single person in that garden
got one phone call home to tell their
loved ones that they were safe in that
garden during that week I saw some
incredible things and what I learned
about humans is that in the face of
adversity that’s when we are at our
greatest things that you don’t realize
are useful coming to play people became
nurses doctors forages counselors
entertainers and you might not realize
how important it
to keep your spirits up in that
situation but that role was as valuable
as any other every single person had
something valuable to bring to the party
I think one of the most important things
that I remember is that it is when you
put all of that talent together that you
suddenly create true magnificence and
that’s the most important thing there’s
one particular story that I remember and
it was when the Sri Lankan people one
magnificent afternoon
these sri lanka men came back with a bag
full of fish they had a carrier bag full
of fish that had been washed up and they
were cheering and everything carried
back for the fish and you look at this
garden full of 120 150 people and you’re
thinking that’s great around but you
know what it did we cooked it up and we
had these fish and we had a handful of
rice so every single person in that
garden was sated with a morsel of fish
and a handful of rice now there is
something amazing about what happens to
your body it takes over in that
situation you find you don’t need to
sweat as much drink as much eat as much
you actually survive on an awful lot
less than you think you will but we were
sated on that handful of fish and rice
and that reminds me of a much more
famous story what I realized is that
human beings do have some brilliant
things to bring to the party but when
you put it together that’s when you
realize that we can be truly magnificent
and it is actually it feels like a
vibration and I want you to remember
something that happened to you where you
would have felt this a vibration it
feels incredible and it spreads and
spreads and spreads and it didn’t stop
there it was collaboration that got us
home it wasn’t one government one person
it was collaboration that’s what got us
home it was collaboration that made us
put together he could do
finish fund and raise a hundred thousand
pounds in just 6 months flat it wasn’t
us it was the collaboration of everyone
at home doing tabletop sales doing car
boots putting our concerts doing coffee
mornings there was this incredible
collaborative compassion that just
consumed me and vibrated me from the
heart and I know that other people who
felt that it didn’t stop there eight
point six million billion pounds was
raised now that is more than one pound
per person living on this planet that’s
incredible and that’s what happened
because partly because no one was to
blame for this natural disaster and it
reached people it touched people but I
want you to just consider what can
happen if we all put our resources
together what I saw in the core of
humanity was empathy it was compassion
it was love and forgiveness there are so
many stories but I could fold out from
here but I just don’t have the time
today but it was amazing most of all it
was actually this collaboration that
made a difference collaboration has the
power to overcome everything so why
don’t we think big why don’t we stop
sweating about the small stuff why don’t
we stop bitching and moaning and talking
about politics and think deep think big
think big picture it is in the face of
true adversity that we really see how
far we will shine and I have great faith
in humanity we’ve talked a lot about
artificial intelligence and the future
and are mainly some fear some people
might fear what their place is in the
future where is my place in humanity I
have no such fear because I’ve seen a
fraction of what we can do when we come
together and it is just incredible we
are far greater than the sum of our
anyone here who has been through trauma
will know what I’m talking about
every time we hear a story about I don’t
know some tragic incidents or some
terrorist attack or something happening
we hear these tiny little snippets of
stories about human magnificence
somebody doing heroic things somebody
putting somebody else’s life before
their own somebody going the extra mile
when you put all of that together that’s
when you get this crescendo this
wonderful magnificence and I’ve touched
it I’ve seen it I know it I know it
exists but you know what we’ve never
been tested nobody is ever tested
humanity turn that extent but I know
that if anything happens in the future
and we have to come together as one race
we would I don’t just feel it I don’t
just think here I believe it I know it
because I’ve seen a snippet of it and I
guarantee that you have to this is what
I want you to think about think about
everything with her today think about
how we are evolving as a human race if
we’re talking about advancement if we’re
talking about all of that kind of stuff
then think about us the human race
because we’re on a magnificent journey
and there is so much that we can give
and so much that we can do we don’t know
how powerful we are but just imagine
what if what if we put all of our stuff
together what could we possibly achieve
I can’t tell you what it is but a one
thing I’m absolutely certain it’s going
to be magnificent
you
I was having a magnificent year the
company I’ve started just three years
ago was winning all sorts of awards we
were on top of the world so we decided
to take a couple of well-earned holidays
we learnt to dive in a local dive center
and we found ourselves in some exotic
places like the Maldives then we took
our first Christmas away from the family
ever
we’re in Sri Lanka we had had a
fantastic Christmas party the night
before put on by the people that owned
the dive center and we’d stumbled up to
bed in the early hours of the morning
promising that we’d meet everyone for a
nine o’clock dive well we made it to
breakfast then we decided to go back to
bed and nurse our hangover later on we
heard this pudding and I thought great
we picked a hotel that’s doing building
work and we then could hear all this
swishing like water when you it was a
beautiful day so Stuart went to the
window and he pulled back the curtain
and he said um I think you’d better come
and look at this I knew by the voice the
tone that he used that something was up
so I shot out a bed and looked out the
window and from our third-floor hotel
room I looked down see everywhere the
dive centre next door it’s a roof was
being lifted up by the waves and carried
away I couldn’t believe it I couldn’t
comprehend what I was seeing the
violation I felt was incredible
everything I knew and had learnt about
the seaside was wrong
there was no sloping Beach down to the
rippling waves all of a sudden it was
all around us as far as the eye could
see we looked around
Hotel and inland and just water carrying
buses and everything just down the gall
road like it was a river
it’s incredible what your body does in
that situation immediately always sick
and the smell of this water was just
incredible
sewage oil diesel death was vile that
relentless banging that we heard was a
ship being banged into the side of the
hotel all of this swishing was the palm
trees in the water it was just too much
to comprehend and there was a lot a
single person in sight there’s like the
end of the world I didn’t understand
what had happened was this a nuclear
bomb that had gone off back in old
Blighty was this the butterfly effect of
that I managed to get one text message
out to my sister and her Stewart sister
and it said there’s been a bit of a
flood but we’re okay because I just
couldn’t comprehend what it was so it
was the tsunami I just want to put
things into context for you so I’ll know
what this is let’s imagine that the
earthquake that released energy from the
earth was measured in the equivalent of
atomic bombs
how many atomic bombs do you think it
might have been equivalent to normally
people say two and I say more they say
ten say more they say 20 and I go keep
going so I’ll put you out of your misery
the energy that was released from the
Earth’s crust that caused that
earthquake was the equivalent to 28,000
Hiroshima bombs can you imagine that
here’s some stats
30 kilometers underneath the seafloor
that’s when a distance of 1,200
kilometers was shifted 20 meters 20
meters that’s how much of the earth
shifted and it created the biggest
natural disaster in our history almost
250,000 people lost their lives
immediately almost 500,000 in total when
you think about the related diseases and
the worst thing of it all a third of
them were children
that was our hotel room the one in the
top corner
can you imagine looking down and seeing
nothing but see you see the dice Center
roof here that was being ripped off and
carried away it was just too much to
understand I don’t know how long it was
before we made it out of the hotel we
were half waiting half swimming we were
wearing the most sensible things we can
find everything all the trappings of the
Western world we left behind in our
hotel room it just had no currency
anymore
the things that are important the things
we could barter with we had no idea what
was going on we just knew that we needed
to be clever about this and then again
some hours later one of the dice center
managers boys found us and forced march
us to Jimmy’s house Jimmy was a village
elder and he lived really high up on the
hill and we were reunited with some of
our friends in his garden so there are
about a hundred and fifty hundred and
twenty hundred and fifty of us in that
garden and that is where I spent the
most valuable week of my life the first
thing that we did even though we all
spoke different languages and came from
different cultures is we came together I
remember we had one mobile phone another
mobile phone another none of them worked
we entered at patching together one
phone somebody else’s SIM card somebody
else’s battery somebody else’s power
supply and all of a sudden we had one
working mobile phone I then made sure
that every single person in that garden
got one phone call home to tell their
loved ones that they were safe in that
garden during that week I saw some
incredible things and what I learned
about humans is that in the face of
adversity that’s when we are at our
greatest things that you don’t realize
are useful coming to play people became
nurses doctors forages counselors
entertainers and you might not realize
how important it
to keep your spirits up in that
situation but that role was as valuable
as any other every single person had
something valuable to bring to the party
I think one of the most important things
that I remember is that it is when you
put all of that talent together that you
suddenly create true magnificence and
that’s the most important thing there’s
one particular story that I remember and
it was when the Sri Lankan people one
magnificent afternoon
these sri lanka men came back with a bag
full of fish they had a carrier bag full
of fish that had been washed up and they
were cheering and everything carried
back for the fish and you look at this
garden full of 120 150 people and you’re
thinking that’s great around but you
know what it did we cooked it up and we
had these fish and we had a handful of
rice so every single person in that
garden was sated with a morsel of fish
and a handful of rice now there is
something amazing about what happens to
your body it takes over in that
situation you find you don’t need to
sweat as much drink as much eat as much
you actually survive on an awful lot
less than you think you will but we were
sated on that handful of fish and rice
and that reminds me of a much more
famous story what I realized is that
human beings do have some brilliant
things to bring to the party but when
you put it together that’s when you
realize that we can be truly magnificent
and it is actually it feels like a
vibration and I want you to remember
something that happened to you where you
would have felt this a vibration it
feels incredible and it spreads and
spreads and spreads and it didn’t stop
there it was collaboration that got us
home it wasn’t one government one person
it was collaboration that’s what got us
home it was collaboration that made us
put together he could do
finish fund and raise a hundred thousand
pounds in just 6 months flat it wasn’t
us it was the collaboration of everyone
at home doing tabletop sales doing car
boots putting our concerts doing coffee
mornings there was this incredible
collaborative compassion that just
consumed me and vibrated me from the
heart and I know that other people who
felt that it didn’t stop there eight
point six million billion pounds was
raised now that is more than one pound
per person living on this planet that’s
incredible and that’s what happened
because partly because no one was to
blame for this natural disaster and it
reached people it touched people but I
want you to just consider what can
happen if we all put our resources
together what I saw in the core of
humanity was empathy it was compassion
it was love and forgiveness there are so
many stories but I could fold out from
here but I just don’t have the time
today but it was amazing most of all it
was actually this collaboration that
made a difference collaboration has the
power to overcome everything so why
don’t we think big why don’t we stop
sweating about the small stuff why don’t
we stop bitching and moaning and talking
about politics and think deep think big
think big picture it is in the face of
true adversity that we really see how
far we will shine and I have great faith
in humanity we’ve talked a lot about
artificial intelligence and the future
and are mainly some fear some people
might fear what their place is in the
future where is my place in humanity I
have no such fear because I’ve seen a
fraction of what we can do when we come
together and it is just incredible we
are far greater than the sum of our
anyone here who has been through trauma
will know what I’m talking about
every time we hear a story about I don’t
know some tragic incidents or some
terrorist attack or something happening
we hear these tiny little snippets of
stories about human magnificence
somebody doing heroic things somebody
putting somebody else’s life before
their own somebody going the extra mile
when you put all of that together that’s
when you get this crescendo this
wonderful magnificence and I’ve touched
it I’ve seen it I know it I know it
exists but you know what we’ve never
been tested nobody is ever tested
humanity turn that extent but I know
that if anything happens in the future
and we have to come together as one race
we would I don’t just feel it I don’t
just think here I believe it I know it
because I’ve seen a snippet of it and I
guarantee that you have to this is what
I want you to think about think about
everything with her today think about
how we are evolving as a human race if
we’re talking about advancement if we’re
talking about all of that kind of stuff
then think about us the human race
because we’re on a magnificent journey
and there is so much that we can give
and so much that we can do we don’t know
how powerful we are but just imagine
what if what if we put all of our stuff
together what could we possibly achieve
I can’t tell you what it is but a one
thing I’m absolutely certain it’s going
to be magnificent
you
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