WEBVTT

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Good evening – or, good morning,
I am not sure what time it is there.

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Regardless of the hour, I am thrilled
to be participating in your conference.

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I very much like its title
– "The Future You" –

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because, while looking at tomorrow,
it invites to open a dialogue today,

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to look at the future through a "you."

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"The Future You:"

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the future is made of yous,
it is made of encounters,

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because life flows
through our relations with others.

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Quite a few years of life

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have strengthened my conviction

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that each and everyone's existence
is deeply tied to that of others:

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life is not time merely passing by,
life is about interactions.

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As I meet, or lend an ear
to those who are sick,

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to the migrants
who face terrible hardships

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in search of a brighter future,

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to prison inmates who carry
a hell of pain inside their hearts,

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and to those, many of them young,
who cannot find a job,

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I often find myself wondering:

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"Why them and not me?"

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I, myself, was born
in a family of migrants;

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my father, my grandparents,
like many other Italians,

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left for Argentina

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and met the fate of those
who are left with nothing.

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I could have very well ended up
among today's "discarded" people.

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And that's why I always ask myself,
deep in my heart:

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"Why them and not me?"

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First and foremost, I would love it
if this meeting could help to remind us

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that we all need each other,

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none of us is an island,

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an autonomous and independent "I",
separated from the other,

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and we can only build the future
by standing together, including everyone.

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We don’t think about it often,
but everything is connected,

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and we need to restore
our connections to a healthy state.

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Even the harsh judgment I hold in my heart

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against my brother or my sister,

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the open wound that was never cured,
the offense that was never forgiven,

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the rancor that is only going to hurt me,

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are all instances of a fight
that I carry within me,

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a flare deep in my heart
that needs to be extinguished

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before it goes up in flames,
leaving only ashes behind.

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Many of us, nowadays,

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seem to believe that a happy future
is something impossible to achieve.

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While such concerns
must be taken very seriously,

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they are not invincible.

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They can be overcome when we don't lock
our door to the outside world.

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Happiness can only be discovered

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as a gift of harmony between the whole
and each single component.

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Even science – and you know it
better than I do –

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points to an understanding of reality

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as a place where every element connects
and interacts with everything else.

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And this brings me to my second message.

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How wonderful would it be

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if the growth of scientific
and technological innovation

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would come along with more equality
and social inclusion.

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How wonderful would it be,
while we discover far away planets,

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to rediscover the needs of the brothers
and sisters orbiting around us.

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How wonderful would it be if solidarity,

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this beautiful and, at times,
inconvenient word,

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were not simply reduced to social work,

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and became, instead, the default attitude

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in political, economic,
and scientific choices,

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as well as in the relationships
among individuals, peoples, and countries.

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Only by educating people
to a true solidarity

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will we be able to overcome

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the "culture of waste,"

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which doesn't concern only food and goods

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but, first and foremost, the people

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who are cast aside
by our techno-economic systems

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which, without even realizing it,

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are now putting people’s products
at their core, instead of the people.

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Solidarity is a term that many wish
to erase from the dictionaries.

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Solidarity, however,
is not an automatic mechanism.

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It cannot be programmed or controlled.

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It is a free response born
from the heart of each and everyone.

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Yes, a free response!

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When one realizes

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that life, even in the middle
of so many contradictions, is a gift,

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that love is the source
and the meaning of life,

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how can they withhold their urge
to do good to another fellow being?

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In order to do good,

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we need memory, we need courage
and we need creativity,

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and I know that TED
gathers many creative minds.

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Yes, love does require
a creative, concrete,

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and ingenious attitude.

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Good intentions and conventional formulas,

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so often used to appease
our conscience, are not enough.

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Let us help each other,
all together, to remember

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that the other is not
a statistic, or a number.

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The other has a face.

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The "you" is always a real presence,

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a person to take care of.

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There is a parable Jesus told
to help us understand the difference

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between those who'd rather not be bothered
and those who take care of the other.

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I am sure you have heard it before.
It is the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

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When Jesus was asked:
"Who is my neighbor?" -

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namely, "Who should I take care of?" -

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he told this story, the story of a man

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who had been assaulted, robbed,
beaten and abandoned along a dirt road.

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Upon seeing him, a priest and a Levite,
two very influential people of the time,

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walked past him without stopping to help.

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After a while, a Samaritan, a very much
despised ethnicity at the time, walked by.

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By seeing the injured man
lying on the ground,

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he did not ignore him
as if he weren't even a presence.

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Instead, he felt compassion for this man,

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which compelled him to act
in a very concrete manner.

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He poured oil and wine
on the wounds of the helpless man,

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brought him to a hostel

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and paid out of his pocket
for him to be assisted.

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The story of the Good Samaritan
is the story of today’s humanity.

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People's paths are riddled with wounds

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as everything is centered around money,
and things, instead of people.

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And often there is this habit, by people
who call themselves "respectable,"

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of not taking care of the others,

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thus leaving behind thousands
of human beings, or entire populations,

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on the side of the road.

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Fortunately, there are also those
who are creating a new world

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by taking care of the other,
even out of their own pocket.

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Mother Teresa actually said:

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"One cannot love,
unless it is at their own expense."

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We have so much to do,
and we must do it together.

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But how can we do that,
with all the evil we breathe every day?

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Thank God,

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no system can nullify our desire
to open up to the good,

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to compassion, and to our capacity
to react against evil,

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all of which stem
from deep within our hearts.

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Now you might tell me,

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"Sure, these are beautiful words,

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but I am not the Good Samaritan,
nor Mother Theresa of Calcutta."

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On the contrary: we are precious,
each and everyone of us.

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Each and everyone of us
is irreplaceable in the eyes of God.

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Through the darkness of today's conflicts,

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each and everyone of us
can become a bright candle,

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a reminder that light
will overcome darkness,

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and never the other way around.

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To Christians,
the future does have a name,

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and its name is Hope.

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Feeling hopeful does not mean
to be optimistically naïve

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and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing.

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Hope is the virtue of a heart

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that doesn't lock itself into darkness,
that doesn't dwell on the past,

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does not simply get by in the present,
but is able to see a tomorrow.

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Hope is the door
that opens onto the future.

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Hope is a humble, hidden seed of life

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that, with time,
will develop into a large tree.

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It is like some invisible yeast
that allows the whole dough to grow,

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that brings flavor to all aspects of life.

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And it can do so much,

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because a tiny flicker of light
that feeds on hope

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is enough to shatter
the shield of darkness.

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A single individual
is enough for hope to exist,

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and that individual can be you.

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And then there will be another "you,"
and another "you,"

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and it turns into an "us."

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And so, does hope begin
when we have an "us?"

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No.

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Hope began with one "you."

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When there is an "us,"
there begins a revolution.

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The third message
I would like to share today

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is, indeed, about revolution:
the revolution of tenderness.

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And what is tenderness?

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It is the love that comes close
and becomes real.

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It is a movement
that starts from our heart

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and reaches the eyes,
the ears, and the hands.

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Tenderness means to use
our eyes to see the other,

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our ears to hear the other,

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to listen to the children, the poor,
those who are afraid of the future.

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To listen also to the silent cry
of our common home,

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of our sick and polluted Earth.

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Tenderness means to use
our hands and our heart

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to comfort the other.

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To take care of those in need.

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Tenderness is the language
of the young children,

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of those who need the other.

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A child’s love for mom and dad

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grows through their touch, their gaze,
their voice, their tenderness.

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I like when I hear parents

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talk to their babies,
adapting to the little child,

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sharing the same level of communication.

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This is tenderness:
being on the same level as the other.

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God himself descended into Jesus
to be on our level.

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This is the same path
the Good Samaritan took.

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This is the path that Jesus himself took.

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He lowered himself,

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he lived his entire human existence

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practicing the real,
concrete language of love.

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Yes, tenderness is the path of choice

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for the strongest,
most courageous men and women.

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Tenderness is not weakness,
it is fortitude.

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It is the path of solidarity,
the path of humility.

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Please, allow me to say it loud and clear:

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the more powerful you are,

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the more your actions
will have an impact on people,

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the more responsible you are
to act humbly.

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If you don’t, your power will ruin you
and you will ruin the other.

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There is a saying in Argentina:

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Power is like drinking gin
on an empty stomach.

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You feel dizzy, you get drunk,
you lose your balance

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and you will end up hurting yourself
and those around you,

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if you don’t connect your power
with humility and tenderness.

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Through humility and concrete love,
on the other hand,

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power – the highest, the strongest one –
becomes a service, a force for good.

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The future of humankind isn't exclusively
in the hands of politicians,

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of great leaders, of big companies.

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Yes, they do hold
an enormous responsibility.

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But the future is, most of all,
in the hands of those people

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who recognize the other as a "you,"

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and themselves as part of an "us."

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We all need each other.

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And so, please, think of me
as well with tenderness,

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so that I can fulfill the task
I have been given

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for the good of the other,

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of each and everyone, of all of you,

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of all of us.

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Thank you.