[Music]
hello I’m here to share an idea with you
tonight about our children about our
future do you ever worry that your
children will grow up and they will look
back at their childhood and they would
think I spent too much time inside
looking at screens or do you worry that
your children will grow up and they will
have a hard time to handle emotional
stress like broken relationships and
death and how often do you take your
children outside I mean really into
nature do you worry that your children
will grow up and they will only feel
safe in this man-made world and thinking
that the forest is a dangerous place
full of bugs bears and rapists just
waiting to attack them these are my two
sons Frank and Leo and our two dogs
Bruno and Cara cast a terrible and my
mission as a parent is to prepare Frank
and Leo for the day that I am dead and
when they that day comes I hope that
they won’t need me anymore let me share
a few stories with you about what
parenting means to me
you see I became a father when I was 23
and at that time I had just worked as a
sailor sailing a small sailing boat from
Australia to Turkey over the Indian
Ocean and Red Sea and into the
Mediterranean and when I got back to
Sweden I got a job in the north
first week I got there I met a girl and
we had a baby nine months later and that
was Frank let’s just say we didn’t
really plan this
13 months after Frank we had another
baby boy leo and let’s just say we
didn’t really plan that either and like
everybody else my age we broke up
and in 2008 since that day I’ve been
living with Frank and Leo in our little
house by our little lake in luleå Sweden
and this is the view from our porch
Frank and Leo grew up and one day when
they came home from school they asked me
if they could play photorealistic
shooting games on the computer and
that’s when I took them to the border to
close to the West Bank in Israel and
Palestine you see we made a deal I said
if you come with me to a conflict zone
you can do interviews with people who
have lived through war and when we get
back to Sweden you can choose for
yourself if you want to play the games
or not in my life I’ve been really
hungry to try a lot of different things
I worked as a chef I worked as a sailor
I worked as a taxi driver I worked as a
DJ and I worked as a bartender
university teacher and some other stuff
but for 15 years I worked as a freelance
journalist I started to travel down to
the Middle East to help a friend of mine
who was filming a documentary in
Jerusalem and Hebron and that day back
in Sweden when Frank and Leo asked me
about the game it didn’t matter how much
I tried to explain to them all those
logical arguments it didn’t matter how
much I told them about the roadblocks
the checkpoints the guns the shortage of
electricity and water or the tension in
the air in Jerusalem
when missiles are being exchanged
somewhere along the border they just
thought the game was cool so I had to
ask myself one question how far was I
willing to go to educate my children so
I took them to show up at refugee camp
right between Jerusalem and Ramallah
where people burn their trash in the
street and live surrounded by walls and
towers just like scenes out of a
computer game except that this was real
I took them to checkpoints and i would
took them to the beautiful golan heights
with its amazing views which also is
home to one of the world’s most densely
when we got back Frank and Leo didn’t
want to play the games anymore and this
became viral and also international news
I got a some criticism from parents who
thought that I had gone too far that I
had put my children in danger I don’t
think so I on the other hand think that
it’s putting your children in danger if
you leave them in front of screens
then followed a few dark years of my
life
with a lot of pain and sorrow with a lot
of death first my father had a severe
stroke and then he got cancer then my
girlfriend got cancer then a friend of
mine
Gustav committed suicide when he was
only 23 years old and after many years
of depression my mother also committed
suicide and now I thought it was time
for me to explain to Frank and Leo that
life and death are interconnected and
that death is a natural part of life so
when the funeral home called us and
asked if we wanted to see my mother’s
body one last time I said yes it was
time for them to see death in the eye
and then Leo he he asked me if we could
put something in the coffin and I said
yes I mean sure and I asked him what do
you want to put in the coffin and so Leo
says that you know grandma she liked to
smoke a cigarette in the evening we
should get her a pack of cigarettes
besides sure great idea so so we’re
sitting there in the chapel
my mother is lying in her coffin in
front of us looking very dead you know
like Elvis has left the building it’s
just an empty shell take it away and
burn it it’s nothing left and then Leo
wants to put the cigarettes in the
coffin so I pulled a pack of cigarettes
out of my pocket and when I flip it
around we can all see the warning label
that says smoking kills and we all kind
of look at each other and I say I don’t
think it matters so much
right now and we all start laughing our
heads off right there in that very very
very serious moment and it was so
liberating it was like it was like a
prayer you know like setting a bird free
and we had a great conversation
afterwards and we talked about life and
death and I explained to Frank and Leo
that you’re not getting out of life
during these years to handle the the
sorrow that I had inside of me I started
I start to keep myself very busy I did a
lot of things I started to compete in
Ironman triathlons and in 2014
I ran the world championships in half
marathon and finished in top 12% and I
also started to travel to Barcelona to
go to techno cloud clubs and house clubs
and danced all night long and take
pictures and for a while the sorrow
inside would go away and I would be free
I would just be right there on the dance
floor
and then by chance I started to listen
to this British philosopher called Alan
Watts and I would listen to everything
that I could find online from Alan Watts
over and over again and he would talk
about the destruction of the ego he
would talk about letting go of things
and he would talk about how man had lost
connection with nature so I started to
be even more outside in the forest I
mean I have two big dogs but I really
I’ve been a lot in the forest and with
time I would go into the forest at night
alone feeling very calm I’m feeling very
very peaceful
have you ever been in the forest at
night when a thunderstorm comes in and
the rain falls on the pine trees and you
can smell that smell of the forest or if
you’re sitting on a rock in the forest
and from nowhere there’s a gust of wind
and right there I would become one with
a forest
I would cease to exist and for a few
hours all that pain and suffering would
go away and as the hours passed the Sun
would start to rise over the treetops
and I would leave some of that sorrow
and pain in the forest and walking to
the night but Frank and Leo they were
not so happy about the idea of going
outside and being alone in the forest at
night I was telling them how terrific it
was and I didn’t really buy it so I mean
in our civilization today we have so few
rites of passage
we don’t have really ceremonies that
marked change anymore and my idea was
that if you can teach yourself how to
feel safe and secure out in the forest
at night alone you will carry with you
something inside which will make you
feel secure something that something no
one can take away from you so now I had
to ask myself this question again how
far am I willing to go to educate my
children to reconnect them with nature
and to cure the fear of the dark so we
got in the car and I drove three and a
half hours straight into Swedish Lapland
and outside of a small village called
Aria plug I dropped them off in
different places alone in the forest
they each had a one-man tent and they
had some supplies and a fishing rod and
the next day we had a meeting point
which they would fish their way up
streams and we would meet up and this
was a very very good lesson for me as
well
because when I saw them disappear into
that forest I had to practice letting go
of them so the next day we met up and I
asked Leo how his night was and he said
that he had fallen asleep holding his
electric torch and his footlong hunting
knife like this but he done it and I
don’t know if I’m imagining but I think
that the boys had a different look in
their eye when they came out of that
forest like something had changed
because what I was hoping for was that
they would feel at home
in the forest at night or at least feel
that I did it and I hope that they will
carry this sensation with them for the
rest of their lives and that in my world
is one of the greatest gifts that you
can send to your children on their way
to growing up I worry I worry that we
are looking at a lost generation of
children made up by easily manipulated
individuals who have spent too much time
inside in front of screens children who
have never been able to bond properly
with their parents so they don’t have a
sense of belonging and children who are
obese because they’ve never been into
sports or gotten used to being outside
in nature children who don’t have an
emotional base of their own
so when something happens in life and I
mean children today they watched
thousands of murders and breakups on
television but when something happens in
their life they crumble Frank Alejo are
and remember what Bob Marley and Peter
Tosh sang you can’t blame the youth
thank you so much John thank you so much
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
hello I’m here to share an idea with you
tonight about our children about our
future do you ever worry that your
children will grow up and they will look
back at their childhood and they would
think I spent too much time inside
looking at screens or do you worry that
your children will grow up and they will
have a hard time to handle emotional
stress like broken relationships and
death and how often do you take your
children outside I mean really into
nature do you worry that your children
will grow up and they will only feel
safe in this man-made world and thinking
that the forest is a dangerous place
full of bugs bears and rapists just
waiting to attack them these are my two
sons Frank and Leo and our two dogs
Bruno and Cara cast a terrible and my
mission as a parent is to prepare Frank
and Leo for the day that I am dead and
when they that day comes I hope that
they won’t need me anymore let me share
a few stories with you about what
parenting means to me
you see I became a father when I was 23
and at that time I had just worked as a
sailor sailing a small sailing boat from
Australia to Turkey over the Indian
Ocean and Red Sea and into the
Mediterranean and when I got back to
Sweden I got a job in the north
first week I got there I met a girl and
we had a baby nine months later and that
was Frank let’s just say we didn’t
really plan this
13 months after Frank we had another
baby boy leo and let’s just say we
didn’t really plan that either and like
everybody else my age we broke up
and in 2008 since that day I’ve been
living with Frank and Leo in our little
house by our little lake in luleå Sweden
and this is the view from our porch
Frank and Leo grew up and one day when
they came home from school they asked me
if they could play photorealistic
shooting games on the computer and
that’s when I took them to the border to
close to the West Bank in Israel and
Palestine you see we made a deal I said
if you come with me to a conflict zone
you can do interviews with people who
have lived through war and when we get
back to Sweden you can choose for
yourself if you want to play the games
or not in my life I’ve been really
hungry to try a lot of different things
I worked as a chef I worked as a sailor
I worked as a taxi driver I worked as a
DJ and I worked as a bartender
university teacher and some other stuff
but for 15 years I worked as a freelance
journalist I started to travel down to
the Middle East to help a friend of mine
who was filming a documentary in
Jerusalem and Hebron and that day back
in Sweden when Frank and Leo asked me
about the game it didn’t matter how much
I tried to explain to them all those
logical arguments it didn’t matter how
much I told them about the roadblocks
the checkpoints the guns the shortage of
electricity and water or the tension in
the air in Jerusalem
when missiles are being exchanged
somewhere along the border they just
thought the game was cool so I had to
ask myself one question how far was I
willing to go to educate my children so
I took them to show up at refugee camp
right between Jerusalem and Ramallah
where people burn their trash in the
street and live surrounded by walls and
towers just like scenes out of a
computer game except that this was real
I took them to checkpoints and i would
took them to the beautiful golan heights
with its amazing views which also is
home to one of the world’s most densely
when we got back Frank and Leo didn’t
want to play the games anymore and this
became viral and also international news
I got a some criticism from parents who
thought that I had gone too far that I
had put my children in danger I don’t
think so I on the other hand think that
it’s putting your children in danger if
you leave them in front of screens
then followed a few dark years of my
life
with a lot of pain and sorrow with a lot
of death first my father had a severe
stroke and then he got cancer then my
girlfriend got cancer then a friend of
mine
Gustav committed suicide when he was
only 23 years old and after many years
of depression my mother also committed
suicide and now I thought it was time
for me to explain to Frank and Leo that
life and death are interconnected and
that death is a natural part of life so
when the funeral home called us and
asked if we wanted to see my mother’s
body one last time I said yes it was
time for them to see death in the eye
and then Leo he he asked me if we could
put something in the coffin and I said
yes I mean sure and I asked him what do
you want to put in the coffin and so Leo
says that you know grandma she liked to
smoke a cigarette in the evening we
should get her a pack of cigarettes
besides sure great idea so so we’re
sitting there in the chapel
my mother is lying in her coffin in
front of us looking very dead you know
like Elvis has left the building it’s
just an empty shell take it away and
burn it it’s nothing left and then Leo
wants to put the cigarettes in the
coffin so I pulled a pack of cigarettes
out of my pocket and when I flip it
around we can all see the warning label
that says smoking kills and we all kind
of look at each other and I say I don’t
think it matters so much
right now and we all start laughing our
heads off right there in that very very
very serious moment and it was so
liberating it was like it was like a
prayer you know like setting a bird free
and we had a great conversation
afterwards and we talked about life and
death and I explained to Frank and Leo
that you’re not getting out of life
during these years to handle the the
sorrow that I had inside of me I started
I start to keep myself very busy I did a
lot of things I started to compete in
Ironman triathlons and in 2014
I ran the world championships in half
marathon and finished in top 12% and I
also started to travel to Barcelona to
go to techno cloud clubs and house clubs
and danced all night long and take
pictures and for a while the sorrow
inside would go away and I would be free
I would just be right there on the dance
floor
and then by chance I started to listen
to this British philosopher called Alan
Watts and I would listen to everything
that I could find online from Alan Watts
over and over again and he would talk
about the destruction of the ego he
would talk about letting go of things
and he would talk about how man had lost
connection with nature so I started to
be even more outside in the forest I
mean I have two big dogs but I really
I’ve been a lot in the forest and with
time I would go into the forest at night
alone feeling very calm I’m feeling very
very peaceful
have you ever been in the forest at
night when a thunderstorm comes in and
the rain falls on the pine trees and you
can smell that smell of the forest or if
you’re sitting on a rock in the forest
and from nowhere there’s a gust of wind
and right there I would become one with
a forest
I would cease to exist and for a few
hours all that pain and suffering would
go away and as the hours passed the Sun
would start to rise over the treetops
and I would leave some of that sorrow
and pain in the forest and walking to
the night but Frank and Leo they were
not so happy about the idea of going
outside and being alone in the forest at
night I was telling them how terrific it
was and I didn’t really buy it so I mean
in our civilization today we have so few
rites of passage
we don’t have really ceremonies that
marked change anymore and my idea was
that if you can teach yourself how to
feel safe and secure out in the forest
at night alone you will carry with you
something inside which will make you
feel secure something that something no
one can take away from you so now I had
to ask myself this question again how
far am I willing to go to educate my
children to reconnect them with nature
and to cure the fear of the dark so we
got in the car and I drove three and a
half hours straight into Swedish Lapland
and outside of a small village called
Aria plug I dropped them off in
different places alone in the forest
they each had a one-man tent and they
had some supplies and a fishing rod and
the next day we had a meeting point
which they would fish their way up
streams and we would meet up and this
was a very very good lesson for me as
well
because when I saw them disappear into
that forest I had to practice letting go
of them so the next day we met up and I
asked Leo how his night was and he said
that he had fallen asleep holding his
electric torch and his footlong hunting
knife like this but he done it and I
don’t know if I’m imagining but I think
that the boys had a different look in
their eye when they came out of that
forest like something had changed
because what I was hoping for was that
they would feel at home
in the forest at night or at least feel
that I did it and I hope that they will
carry this sensation with them for the
rest of their lives and that in my world
is one of the greatest gifts that you
can send to your children on their way
to growing up I worry I worry that we
are looking at a lost generation of
children made up by easily manipulated
individuals who have spent too much time
inside in front of screens children who
have never been able to bond properly
with their parents so they don’t have a
sense of belonging and children who are
obese because they’ve never been into
sports or gotten used to being outside
in nature children who don’t have an
emotional base of their own
so when something happens in life and I
mean children today they watched
thousands of murders and breakups on
television but when something happens in
their life they crumble Frank Alejo are
and remember what Bob Marley and Peter
Tosh sang you can’t blame the youth
thank you so much John thank you so much
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
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