what are these things that make you
really uncomfortable cringe-worthy
uncomfortable I hate the sound of
fingernails screeching across the
blackboard and I really hate being dirty
I especially hate when my feet are
covered in filth so yeah I am on a rainy
day in a remote Ugandan village or
waiting to shin deep muddy water and I’m
afraid of the leeches and the parasites
my clothes are soaking wet and I am so
so cold
at this point my thought he’s got it
entirely into it I’m finding all the
constants were limit pillows and my
precious feet of caked in mud I had not
comfortable where is my podomatic
and where are those Louboutin shoes it’s
now almost dusk when we finally get to
the fifth and last water source of the
day it’s a contraceptive spring future
smells and even more mosquitoes greet us
at this brown murky almost stagnant hole
in the ground but there’s something else
here beautiful women encircling the
watering hole and they’ve dressed in the
most vibrant colors blue green purple
orange but there’s one color that shines
the brightest and that’s yellow with
each having a low Jerry camp just like
this except there’s a worn and dirty
from Daily News we take turns getting
down on their knees to fill the skin
with their share of brown monkey water
this is the same water that they have
washed their dirty clothes in
it’s the same water that the animals
have Putin they will drink this water
and they will feed it to their children
and if this isn’t bad enough a herd of
cows comes by when you move to the side
so they too can have their fill to
survive it’s at this moment that I see
one of the most striking images I have
ever encountered the reflection of these
beautiful women and me looking back at
me from the still water these mothers
were standing in solidarity watching
over and protecting their only water
source their main source of life and as
I looked at this reflection I no longer
saw dirty water
I saw shed humanity I saw an intense
will to survive because no matter who
you are or where you’re from or what you
do we all need water to live it’s one of
those great beautiful equalizers and
this dirty water was the only choice
these mothers have with their families
survival and as I look deeper at this
reflection I saw myself even more
clearly and I was no longer feeling that
extreme discomfort what is a city girl
who hates being journeys doing at this
remote waterhole in Uganda and how am i
no longer uncomfortable what brings me
here and what will take me to the remote
mountains of Haiti and the winding
rivers of Cambodia I’m here because I
made a bold choice to give up those
products and follow my breakfast
I started
search for water an organization that
works hand in hand with local leaders to
provide safe water and sanitation to
people in need and it all started when I
was just a few years ago but I was just
seven years old these Indians were born
and raised in Dubai we’d go back to the
motherland every summer and one of these
trips we were in our comfortable
air-conditioned car from the colorful
chaotic streets of Mumbai and we stuck
in traffic in this little girl around my
age knocks on the glass window she’s
covered in dirt and her torn tattered
clothes barely cover her bare bottoms a
little baby and equally counted clothes
whose nestled in one of her eyes and her
other arm it’s just missing so here I am
in my prettiest pink dress of always
life dresses nothing into the eyes of a
girl who could have just as easily been
me except she’s on the other side of
this glass window begging for survival
as our car moved away her hand friend
was smeared on the glass and etched
forever in my heart even as a
seven-year-old I knew that there was
something wrong but I did what children
do they return home and I continue to
live my relatively privileged life when
it plenty of food water clothes presents
for every occasion and sometimes for no
occasion at all I was a happy child only
truly remembering children less
fortunate when we returned to India on
the summer
patience and then as a junior in college
I signed up for a volunteer teaching
assignment in the lush green foothills
of the Indian Himalayas and on this trip
we get this fuckin icy cold water once
in three days but I was dragged over to
the shower stalls stalls that had the
floors smeared in urine and the stench
of poo overshadowed the crisp mountain
air but I’d still relish washing
Malaya’s of dust and dirt off my body
because even this bucket of icy cold
water was so much more than what my
fellow villagers had and that’s how I
experienced water shortages for the
first time a few more friends happen on
this trip I started to understand the
correlation between water access poverty
and the result of choices that people
had I often see my students young
children up in the distant Hills
fetching water for their family’s
survival they’d be trekking hours
carrying 30 to 40 pounds of water is
really heavy so heavy but I’m not making
this up I can still bear any lifting
this was not let the choices I have but
instead the difference between life and
death
and that’s when it hit me but even
having the choice is a privilege in
itself and so if this intense experience
a spark had been ignited but instead of
erasing it I chose to do nothing I came
back to the u.s. graduated college and
joined corporate America and very early
on I got
into the system and I did what I was
supposed to do I left the motions happen
did in and day out and completely forgot
about that inner seven year old and the
new fonts box so for yours I would wake
up early check my email drink some tea
what are my high view take a bus to the
office work really hard run errands come
home and work some more and of course I
had to balance all of this hard work
with an adequate amount of tithing so
there were plenty of fancy restaurants
bars exotic trips clothes even more
designer shoes and bags I was winning
business awards Chuck setting the world
and earning six figures at a really
young age my life was full so full of
meaningless minutiae and that when I
realized I had to do something about it
I had to take control of the situation
and no longer that life just happened to
me I decided to embrace that inner seven
year old and that spark and so I started
to make a series of really uncomfortable
and scary choices that led me to my
partner I decided to walk away from my
precondition American Dream an immigrant
dream that my parents had worked so
incredibly hard for so that it was
within my reach and I had the privilege
to just walk away I chose to leave my
secure stable corporate job and exchange
my fancy Chicago downtown apartment for
storage unit I started to strip away
non-essential shopping and all the
staple luxuries who wants an essential
part of my life like gym memberships the
process yeah
the process was really hard I was no
longer meeting the life and career
expectations of my family and friends
and it started to get lonely and I
started to feel disconnected from some
of the people who are once in my closest
circle
but through this conscious transition of
choices something really beautiful
happened I found in search water I start
to live my purpose and today nearly
400,000 people in 11 countries have
access to safe water a few weeks ago I
was in the Dominican Republic and I met
seven year old Diana Vasquez she dreams
of becoming a chef’s when she grows up
now that her family has take water in
their homes
Diana can go to school get an education
and do what all children should do which
is dream big that’s what water did for
Diana and does for so many children
around the world do you remember that
dirty watering hole in Uganda that I
told you about well I’ll never forget
this moment almost a year later the 70
year old village Aldo he would propose
this looked me in the eyes and thanked
me for making you feel like a human
being again
he used to be on his knees drinking that
same water as those cows and bass now
not only does a booth who have safe
water but he also had dignity
people like buco and Diana I what
inspire me and I’ll tell you something
I’ll never forget this other moment
because we’re who looked me in the eyes
not only did he inspire me he also made
me feel like a human being but yet I
would choose Lucas
Dianna’s and my life a million times
over that Prada bad
all those Louboutin shoes when I started
served I chose to break away from the
systems and the expectations and
imprison me I started to live a
conscious mindful life and because of
that I got gets now get to live
purposefully and fully I have exposure
to beautiful villages on stunning
mountains across running streams all
across a beautiful world I meet local
heroes that inspire me to become a
better person every day teach me about
love privilege perseverance and strength
so I ask you what if some of the choices
that you are faced with which side of
the glass window are you on are you
filling your can with mosquito-infested
brown murky water or are you choosing
between your morning milk obverses latte
or perhaps your afternoon sandwich
versus a salad do you have privilege in
your choices and if so what do you do
with that privilege and let’s take this
even further are you living a life that
the system has precondition usefulness
or are you living the life you really
want
are you using meaningless choices to
distract from that one choice that
really means something
what is that inner voice what is that
voice you can no longer ignore what is
that one choice but is so authentically
you that will make you a slightly better
and happier person what is that one
choice that could defy all reason to
make the world just a slightly better
place I definitely don’t have all the
answers and I still have a lot of Life
to Live stories to tell and choices to
make I feel like my life’s work has just
begun but what I do know is that when
you embrace the uncomfortable and start
making mindful conscious choices change
becomes possible and perhaps tomorrow
because of you one more person will have
the privilege to choose
[Applause]
really uncomfortable cringe-worthy
uncomfortable I hate the sound of
fingernails screeching across the
blackboard and I really hate being dirty
I especially hate when my feet are
covered in filth so yeah I am on a rainy
day in a remote Ugandan village or
waiting to shin deep muddy water and I’m
afraid of the leeches and the parasites
my clothes are soaking wet and I am so
so cold
at this point my thought he’s got it
entirely into it I’m finding all the
constants were limit pillows and my
precious feet of caked in mud I had not
comfortable where is my podomatic
and where are those Louboutin shoes it’s
now almost dusk when we finally get to
the fifth and last water source of the
day it’s a contraceptive spring future
smells and even more mosquitoes greet us
at this brown murky almost stagnant hole
in the ground but there’s something else
here beautiful women encircling the
watering hole and they’ve dressed in the
most vibrant colors blue green purple
orange but there’s one color that shines
the brightest and that’s yellow with
each having a low Jerry camp just like
this except there’s a worn and dirty
from Daily News we take turns getting
down on their knees to fill the skin
with their share of brown monkey water
this is the same water that they have
washed their dirty clothes in
it’s the same water that the animals
have Putin they will drink this water
and they will feed it to their children
and if this isn’t bad enough a herd of
cows comes by when you move to the side
so they too can have their fill to
survive it’s at this moment that I see
one of the most striking images I have
ever encountered the reflection of these
beautiful women and me looking back at
me from the still water these mothers
were standing in solidarity watching
over and protecting their only water
source their main source of life and as
I looked at this reflection I no longer
saw dirty water
I saw shed humanity I saw an intense
will to survive because no matter who
you are or where you’re from or what you
do we all need water to live it’s one of
those great beautiful equalizers and
this dirty water was the only choice
these mothers have with their families
survival and as I look deeper at this
reflection I saw myself even more
clearly and I was no longer feeling that
extreme discomfort what is a city girl
who hates being journeys doing at this
remote waterhole in Uganda and how am i
no longer uncomfortable what brings me
here and what will take me to the remote
mountains of Haiti and the winding
rivers of Cambodia I’m here because I
made a bold choice to give up those
products and follow my breakfast
I started
search for water an organization that
works hand in hand with local leaders to
provide safe water and sanitation to
people in need and it all started when I
was just a few years ago but I was just
seven years old these Indians were born
and raised in Dubai we’d go back to the
motherland every summer and one of these
trips we were in our comfortable
air-conditioned car from the colorful
chaotic streets of Mumbai and we stuck
in traffic in this little girl around my
age knocks on the glass window she’s
covered in dirt and her torn tattered
clothes barely cover her bare bottoms a
little baby and equally counted clothes
whose nestled in one of her eyes and her
other arm it’s just missing so here I am
in my prettiest pink dress of always
life dresses nothing into the eyes of a
girl who could have just as easily been
me except she’s on the other side of
this glass window begging for survival
as our car moved away her hand friend
was smeared on the glass and etched
forever in my heart even as a
seven-year-old I knew that there was
something wrong but I did what children
do they return home and I continue to
live my relatively privileged life when
it plenty of food water clothes presents
for every occasion and sometimes for no
occasion at all I was a happy child only
truly remembering children less
fortunate when we returned to India on
the summer
patience and then as a junior in college
I signed up for a volunteer teaching
assignment in the lush green foothills
of the Indian Himalayas and on this trip
we get this fuckin icy cold water once
in three days but I was dragged over to
the shower stalls stalls that had the
floors smeared in urine and the stench
of poo overshadowed the crisp mountain
air but I’d still relish washing
Malaya’s of dust and dirt off my body
because even this bucket of icy cold
water was so much more than what my
fellow villagers had and that’s how I
experienced water shortages for the
first time a few more friends happen on
this trip I started to understand the
correlation between water access poverty
and the result of choices that people
had I often see my students young
children up in the distant Hills
fetching water for their family’s
survival they’d be trekking hours
carrying 30 to 40 pounds of water is
really heavy so heavy but I’m not making
this up I can still bear any lifting
this was not let the choices I have but
instead the difference between life and
death
and that’s when it hit me but even
having the choice is a privilege in
itself and so if this intense experience
a spark had been ignited but instead of
erasing it I chose to do nothing I came
back to the u.s. graduated college and
joined corporate America and very early
on I got
into the system and I did what I was
supposed to do I left the motions happen
did in and day out and completely forgot
about that inner seven year old and the
new fonts box so for yours I would wake
up early check my email drink some tea
what are my high view take a bus to the
office work really hard run errands come
home and work some more and of course I
had to balance all of this hard work
with an adequate amount of tithing so
there were plenty of fancy restaurants
bars exotic trips clothes even more
designer shoes and bags I was winning
business awards Chuck setting the world
and earning six figures at a really
young age my life was full so full of
meaningless minutiae and that when I
realized I had to do something about it
I had to take control of the situation
and no longer that life just happened to
me I decided to embrace that inner seven
year old and that spark and so I started
to make a series of really uncomfortable
and scary choices that led me to my
partner I decided to walk away from my
precondition American Dream an immigrant
dream that my parents had worked so
incredibly hard for so that it was
within my reach and I had the privilege
to just walk away I chose to leave my
secure stable corporate job and exchange
my fancy Chicago downtown apartment for
storage unit I started to strip away
non-essential shopping and all the
staple luxuries who wants an essential
part of my life like gym memberships the
process yeah
the process was really hard I was no
longer meeting the life and career
expectations of my family and friends
and it started to get lonely and I
started to feel disconnected from some
of the people who are once in my closest
circle
but through this conscious transition of
choices something really beautiful
happened I found in search water I start
to live my purpose and today nearly
400,000 people in 11 countries have
access to safe water a few weeks ago I
was in the Dominican Republic and I met
seven year old Diana Vasquez she dreams
of becoming a chef’s when she grows up
now that her family has take water in
their homes
Diana can go to school get an education
and do what all children should do which
is dream big that’s what water did for
Diana and does for so many children
around the world do you remember that
dirty watering hole in Uganda that I
told you about well I’ll never forget
this moment almost a year later the 70
year old village Aldo he would propose
this looked me in the eyes and thanked
me for making you feel like a human
being again
he used to be on his knees drinking that
same water as those cows and bass now
not only does a booth who have safe
water but he also had dignity
people like buco and Diana I what
inspire me and I’ll tell you something
I’ll never forget this other moment
because we’re who looked me in the eyes
not only did he inspire me he also made
me feel like a human being but yet I
would choose Lucas
Dianna’s and my life a million times
over that Prada bad
all those Louboutin shoes when I started
served I chose to break away from the
systems and the expectations and
imprison me I started to live a
conscious mindful life and because of
that I got gets now get to live
purposefully and fully I have exposure
to beautiful villages on stunning
mountains across running streams all
across a beautiful world I meet local
heroes that inspire me to become a
better person every day teach me about
love privilege perseverance and strength
so I ask you what if some of the choices
that you are faced with which side of
the glass window are you on are you
filling your can with mosquito-infested
brown murky water or are you choosing
between your morning milk obverses latte
or perhaps your afternoon sandwich
versus a salad do you have privilege in
your choices and if so what do you do
with that privilege and let’s take this
even further are you living a life that
the system has precondition usefulness
or are you living the life you really
want
are you using meaningless choices to
distract from that one choice that
really means something
what is that inner voice what is that
voice you can no longer ignore what is
that one choice but is so authentically
you that will make you a slightly better
and happier person what is that one
choice that could defy all reason to
make the world just a slightly better
place I definitely don’t have all the
answers and I still have a lot of Life
to Live stories to tell and choices to
make I feel like my life’s work has just
begun but what I do know is that when
you embrace the uncomfortable and start
making mindful conscious choices change
becomes possible and perhaps tomorrow
because of you one more person will have
the privilege to choose
[Applause]
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