thank you
my name is Arlo Davis
my parents are Joseph Davis and Martha
ramoth my grandparents are Ralph and
Emma Ramos and Jan fan Estelle and art
Davis I grew up in Nome Alaska out on
the coast maybe 400 miles from here and
so Loic Nome is a town of about 3500
people Selleck is a village of about 842
give or take I caught my first caribou
when I was 8 years old outside Selawik
Alaska I was going to our downriver fish
camp with my family in the summertime in
a big boat and we ran into you some
caribou swimming through the river so we
turned around me and my cousin got our
rifles ready and when we were ready we
went back and we caught two of them
brought them to the riverbank pulled
them up and worked on them as a family
so where I come from we have a very
intimate relationship with knives they
are natural normal and essential for
life
and while it’s really easy to see how
knives are natural and normal and
essential where I come from I believe
that really all over the world
knives are natural normal and essential
the cutting edge of a knife is kind of
mysterious to me I think it’s kind of
like fire or some other natural element
the moment that you cut a piece of wood
and turn one thing into two things at a
cellular or molecular level it’s I don’t
understand it I think it’s amazing so I
caught my first caribou when I was eight
knives are natural normal and essential
and the idea that I want to explain is
that our conscience our sense of right
and wrong is represented by a knife and
in that moment we’re all the same so let
me explain what I mean a little bit a
knife has two sides that are joined by
one cutting edge when something know
rises in our conscience and we remember
to do something or remember to not do
something that moment when that happens
is a moment in time and we can’t go back
and uh think what has occurred to us we
are left with a choice of what to do
about that
choice that has become available to us
and that moment happens for all of us so
that’s what I mean by in that moment we
are all the same
of course we oftentimes disagree about
what to do or we may agree about what to
do but we may disagree on how to do it
there’s lots of ways that we disagree
there are also lots of ways that we
agree though and so what this means this
shared moment that we have that is
sometimes in harmony with each other and
sometimes opposed to one a child one one
another that clear identification of
that moment for both of us creates a
space a clearly defined space where we
can then talk about our similarities in
our differences and talking is a good
thing especially when it comes to
conflict however
sometimes that moment is wrong sometimes
we are wrong which is why there’s an old
saying before you do anything make a cup
of tea because sometimes things happen
and we want to immediately do something
or not do something or whatever it is
and it’s important for some of those
bigger things that they be questioned
because sometimes that clear moment is
right and sometimes that clear moment
needs adjustment especially when we are
talking about more than one person
involved in doing any kind of big
project or anything like that but the
idea is very simple it’s that a knife
represents our conscience and in that
moment we share that moment and we’re
all the same I think what this means is
that it’s uh helps see the humanity in
our enemies in our friends in our family
and people we don’t know and that by
seeing that shared bit of humanity it
helps people get along it helps me get
along with other people and that’s a
good thing
so what speech about our shared humanity
would be complete without a song or
dance of some kind so here’s a little
tune I like to call Poe dig Lee
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
my name is Arlo Davis
my parents are Joseph Davis and Martha
ramoth my grandparents are Ralph and
Emma Ramos and Jan fan Estelle and art
Davis I grew up in Nome Alaska out on
the coast maybe 400 miles from here and
so Loic Nome is a town of about 3500
people Selleck is a village of about 842
give or take I caught my first caribou
when I was 8 years old outside Selawik
Alaska I was going to our downriver fish
camp with my family in the summertime in
a big boat and we ran into you some
caribou swimming through the river so we
turned around me and my cousin got our
rifles ready and when we were ready we
went back and we caught two of them
brought them to the riverbank pulled
them up and worked on them as a family
so where I come from we have a very
intimate relationship with knives they
are natural normal and essential for
life
and while it’s really easy to see how
knives are natural and normal and
essential where I come from I believe
that really all over the world
knives are natural normal and essential
the cutting edge of a knife is kind of
mysterious to me I think it’s kind of
like fire or some other natural element
the moment that you cut a piece of wood
and turn one thing into two things at a
cellular or molecular level it’s I don’t
understand it I think it’s amazing so I
caught my first caribou when I was eight
knives are natural normal and essential
and the idea that I want to explain is
that our conscience our sense of right
and wrong is represented by a knife and
in that moment we’re all the same so let
me explain what I mean a little bit a
knife has two sides that are joined by
one cutting edge when something know
rises in our conscience and we remember
to do something or remember to not do
something that moment when that happens
is a moment in time and we can’t go back
and uh think what has occurred to us we
are left with a choice of what to do
about that
choice that has become available to us
and that moment happens for all of us so
that’s what I mean by in that moment we
are all the same
of course we oftentimes disagree about
what to do or we may agree about what to
do but we may disagree on how to do it
there’s lots of ways that we disagree
there are also lots of ways that we
agree though and so what this means this
shared moment that we have that is
sometimes in harmony with each other and
sometimes opposed to one a child one one
another that clear identification of
that moment for both of us creates a
space a clearly defined space where we
can then talk about our similarities in
our differences and talking is a good
thing especially when it comes to
conflict however
sometimes that moment is wrong sometimes
we are wrong which is why there’s an old
saying before you do anything make a cup
of tea because sometimes things happen
and we want to immediately do something
or not do something or whatever it is
and it’s important for some of those
bigger things that they be questioned
because sometimes that clear moment is
right and sometimes that clear moment
needs adjustment especially when we are
talking about more than one person
involved in doing any kind of big
project or anything like that but the
idea is very simple it’s that a knife
represents our conscience and in that
moment we share that moment and we’re
all the same I think what this means is
that it’s uh helps see the humanity in
our enemies in our friends in our family
and people we don’t know and that by
seeing that shared bit of humanity it
helps people get along it helps me get
along with other people and that’s a
good thing
so what speech about our shared humanity
would be complete without a song or
dance of some kind so here’s a little
tune I like to call Poe dig Lee
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
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