I too like to travel and I love bringing
back souvenirs but I usually don’t bring
back the magnets or the small little
souvenirs that you find at the shops
what I like to bring back are small
fragments of walls I tend to visit some
conflicting places around the world and
that’s exciting to me I bring them home
all of these little bits of walls places
that many people don’t go to I have a
piece of the wall from that separates
Israel and Palestine I have a small
piece of the wall outside of the prison
that Nelson Mandela was kept I have a
small piece of the wall between the u.s.
and Mexico and the Berlin wall I display
them at home because it’s important for
me as I go through my daily life to
remember that eventually all walls come
but there’s a wall that I’m really
concerned about and it’s being built now
across the world by all of us we’re all
building it right now and that’s the
wall that we are constructing between
our authentic self who we really are and
who we were meant to be and who we
choose to be and present ourselves as
online there’s social media I bring this
up because it’s a good litmus test for
the health of our society because it
tells a lot about how we see ourselves
and others last year
our Regional Health District decided to
study our community’s quality of life
and they did this because there seems to
be a connection between social capital
social connectivity and health
they found that 70 percent of people
over the age of 60 here in the Inland
Northwest rated the quality of life as
excellent or really good with really
strong networks
of social connectivity and maybe this is
because people over 60 are used to
actually having a conversation
face-to-face without social media right
and I bring that up because by contrast
Millennials and young people only half
rated the quality of life as good or
excellent young people are more
susceptible to suffer from depression
and anxiety disorders and even PTSD and
there are studies out there that
actually suggests that after the advent
of major social media platforms youth
suicide rates skyrocketed given this
data it is not healthy to live your life
alone we are getting sick literally sick
by keeping one another at arm’s length
or behind a screen this is a public
health crisis people are dying my
generation was taught that the speed at
which we communicate and share things
online will be the answer to all of the
world’s problems that we will be able to
have so much savings and so much
efficiency that it will inevitably lead
to more time and more happiness
we have scores of social media platforms
these days and more modes of
communication than we’ve ever had in the
history of our species we can right now
without our phone and talk to someone on
the other side of the planet even
communicate with them in their own
language with a little more than a few
keystrokes and with all of these tools
at our disposal why do we feel so
isolated and alone why is it that I
spend more time sending emails to
someone who sets three feet away from me
than I do actually striking up a
conversation with them or getting to
then I do actually having a conversation
with them over coffee we need to get
comfortable with being uncomfortable we
need to change this because if we are
going to flourish as a community and a
species then we have to admit to
ourselves that we can do something about
this and it starts right now we need to
admit that it might be easier for some
of us to carry our opinions across the
internet in all caps might be easier for
us to do that then carry a plate of
cookies across the street to our Muslim
neighbors our Jewish neighbors our black
neighbors our gay neighbors our
republican neighbors this type of
connection that we’re searching for can
be found when you find others when you
open yourself up because you learn that
being vulnerable is an asset it inspires
other people to be themselves as well
that’s why I actually meet the neighbors
is so amazing what started out as a
small suite of videos online how to
visit your local mosque your local
synagogue your local Hindu temple turned
in to a movement that is changing the
way we communicate and build community
here in Spokane that connection if we’re
honestly talking about that we’re really
authentic with ourselves is what we’ve
been searching for online and within us
community connection and above all hope
we need you we need you to build
community we need to remember that our
self-worth is not tied to how many
followers we have or how many likes our
last post
a crate we need to remember that it is
actually a good thing to get out of our
comfort zones and that you can actually
hear somebody else’s opinion and accept
it without having to water down your own
do you remember those days if you’ve
never been to a mosque visit a mosque
the next time you go through a checkout
line and the cashier asks you how is
your day going
respond with more than just one word or
a grumble next time you’re on the bus
you’ll be so excited because this is so
liberating the most important thing you
can do actually is free yourself from
the notion that you can’t change your
mind sometimes the biggest problem that
we have is setting our beliefs in stone
is that they are unable to move with us
through life and experience the richness
of human experience along with us and
then what happens is that you actually
become more obsessed with pledging
allegiance to the opinions of yesterday
than you do to yourself and to others in
community and it becomes more important
this epidemic this health crisis is
eroding our communities and our
neighborhoods and turning our cities
into row houses and cul-de-sacs we’re
the only sounds that’s heard our
sprinklers we can do better we need to
do better
when you get out of your comfort zone
and you meet your neighbors and you
strike up a conversation with strangers
you begin to realize that the world
opens you have value the stranger next
to you right now has value I challenge
every single one of you to look at them
because that person next to you has
value and a unique vantage point that is
needed you have a unique vantage point
that is needed and value turbine are not
people or not hid job are not faith or
not you are exactly what we need and
look outside it’s desperately needed
when you pull back the curtain of the
technology that you have that has
actually facilitated some of our
isolation you will realize that it’s not
all about you that it’s about us this is
the gift of human connection be the gift
you were gifted to be now go out there and talk to a stranger thank you
back souvenirs but I usually don’t bring
back the magnets or the small little
souvenirs that you find at the shops
what I like to bring back are small
fragments of walls I tend to visit some
conflicting places around the world and
that’s exciting to me I bring them home
all of these little bits of walls places
that many people don’t go to I have a
piece of the wall from that separates
Israel and Palestine I have a small
piece of the wall outside of the prison
that Nelson Mandela was kept I have a
small piece of the wall between the u.s.
and Mexico and the Berlin wall I display
them at home because it’s important for
me as I go through my daily life to
remember that eventually all walls come
but there’s a wall that I’m really
concerned about and it’s being built now
across the world by all of us we’re all
building it right now and that’s the
wall that we are constructing between
our authentic self who we really are and
who we were meant to be and who we
choose to be and present ourselves as
online there’s social media I bring this
up because it’s a good litmus test for
the health of our society because it
tells a lot about how we see ourselves
and others last year
our Regional Health District decided to
study our community’s quality of life
and they did this because there seems to
be a connection between social capital
social connectivity and health
they found that 70 percent of people
over the age of 60 here in the Inland
Northwest rated the quality of life as
excellent or really good with really
strong networks
of social connectivity and maybe this is
because people over 60 are used to
actually having a conversation
face-to-face without social media right
and I bring that up because by contrast
Millennials and young people only half
rated the quality of life as good or
excellent young people are more
susceptible to suffer from depression
and anxiety disorders and even PTSD and
there are studies out there that
actually suggests that after the advent
of major social media platforms youth
suicide rates skyrocketed given this
data it is not healthy to live your life
alone we are getting sick literally sick
by keeping one another at arm’s length
or behind a screen this is a public
health crisis people are dying my
generation was taught that the speed at
which we communicate and share things
online will be the answer to all of the
world’s problems that we will be able to
have so much savings and so much
efficiency that it will inevitably lead
to more time and more happiness
we have scores of social media platforms
these days and more modes of
communication than we’ve ever had in the
history of our species we can right now
without our phone and talk to someone on
the other side of the planet even
communicate with them in their own
language with a little more than a few
keystrokes and with all of these tools
at our disposal why do we feel so
isolated and alone why is it that I
spend more time sending emails to
someone who sets three feet away from me
than I do actually striking up a
conversation with them or getting to
then I do actually having a conversation
with them over coffee we need to get
comfortable with being uncomfortable we
need to change this because if we are
going to flourish as a community and a
species then we have to admit to
ourselves that we can do something about
this and it starts right now we need to
admit that it might be easier for some
of us to carry our opinions across the
internet in all caps might be easier for
us to do that then carry a plate of
cookies across the street to our Muslim
neighbors our Jewish neighbors our black
neighbors our gay neighbors our
republican neighbors this type of
connection that we’re searching for can
be found when you find others when you
open yourself up because you learn that
being vulnerable is an asset it inspires
other people to be themselves as well
that’s why I actually meet the neighbors
is so amazing what started out as a
small suite of videos online how to
visit your local mosque your local
synagogue your local Hindu temple turned
in to a movement that is changing the
way we communicate and build community
here in Spokane that connection if we’re
honestly talking about that we’re really
authentic with ourselves is what we’ve
been searching for online and within us
community connection and above all hope
we need you we need you to build
community we need to remember that our
self-worth is not tied to how many
followers we have or how many likes our
last post
a crate we need to remember that it is
actually a good thing to get out of our
comfort zones and that you can actually
hear somebody else’s opinion and accept
it without having to water down your own
do you remember those days if you’ve
never been to a mosque visit a mosque
the next time you go through a checkout
line and the cashier asks you how is
your day going
respond with more than just one word or
a grumble next time you’re on the bus
you’ll be so excited because this is so
liberating the most important thing you
can do actually is free yourself from
the notion that you can’t change your
mind sometimes the biggest problem that
we have is setting our beliefs in stone
is that they are unable to move with us
through life and experience the richness
of human experience along with us and
then what happens is that you actually
become more obsessed with pledging
allegiance to the opinions of yesterday
than you do to yourself and to others in
community and it becomes more important
this epidemic this health crisis is
eroding our communities and our
neighborhoods and turning our cities
into row houses and cul-de-sacs we’re
the only sounds that’s heard our
sprinklers we can do better we need to
do better
when you get out of your comfort zone
and you meet your neighbors and you
strike up a conversation with strangers
you begin to realize that the world
opens you have value the stranger next
to you right now has value I challenge
every single one of you to look at them
because that person next to you has
value and a unique vantage point that is
needed you have a unique vantage point
that is needed and value turbine are not
people or not hid job are not faith or
not you are exactly what we need and
look outside it’s desperately needed
when you pull back the curtain of the
technology that you have that has
actually facilitated some of our
isolation you will realize that it’s not
all about you that it’s about us this is
the gift of human connection be the gift
you were gifted to be now go out there and talk to a stranger thank you
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