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If you had the chance,
would you change the world?

2
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(Audience): Yes

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Thank you.
There is a little delay.

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Of course you would.
Because I didn't say, save the world,

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I said change the world,
improve it.

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Make it better than we found it.
And we all want to do that, don't we?

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Great! Because I'm here
with the happy news

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that you can, and you do,
and you will change the world.

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But all too often, partly the reason
for your hesitation just now

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we often think, "Gosh changing the world,
that's going to be really hard work,

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perhaps impossible,
probably not much fun."

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And we leave it to someone else,
someone really important.

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They'll do it.
And that's a real shame,

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because we are all capable
of changing the world

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and I am trying to explain how
it's going to work for you individually.

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I am not going to tell you what to do.

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So one of the reasons
why we tend to hold back that way

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has to do with the way
that we've been taught history.

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Essentially we are told that it is about

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the kind of the things
that certain big individuals,

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usually men, have done over the time.

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The great British historian, Carlyle,

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once said that "History is but
the biography of great men."

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And if you don't happen
to think of yourself

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as a great man already

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that may leave you feeling
a little bit left out.

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But luckily, happily, Leo Tolstoy,
the novelist, came along.

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This is him in his glory. And Tolstoy
came along and said that history

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is more accurately considered
to be an infinitely large number

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of infinitesimally small things

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that we all do and don't do everyday.

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What does that mean?

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It's easy to understand what he means

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if you think about an election.

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You vote for this party,
or you vote for that party

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or you hate them all
so you don't vote for any of them.

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But we all know
that whatever you do,

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has an affect on the outcome.

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It helps to determine
the final result, we all know that.

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But what Tolstoy is saying,
is that everything you do

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and everything you don't do,
has an affect on how things are.

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It shapes the way the world is.

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It's really useful and healthy

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and satisfying to take
some responsibility

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for yourself in that sense.

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So what can we do about it?

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We want to recognize

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that we all make history all the time.

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And if you don't recognize that,

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if you don't realize what
I've just tried to say

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you may be one of those people

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who complains a lot
about the "status quo".

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And the Status quo is
a horrible abstract noun.

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Nobody likes it,
it feels really oppressive,

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but if you notice that
you have some responsibility

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then that's good.

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So I'm going to offer you another way

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to think about the status quo.

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I want you to think instead
of a powerful king on the stage.

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If you like, you can shut your eyes

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and imagine what a powerful
king on the stage looked like.

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It might be a really big crown,

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it might be a golden throne,

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and I would say, "No! Those only
tell you that he is the king."

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What makes him powerful?

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What makes him powerful
are all that other people

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on the stage flat on
their faces before him.

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And if all of those people sat up,

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turned their backs on him,
went to sleep,

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told jokes, smoked cigarettes,
played the trumpet,

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it would have an enormous
effect, wouldn't it?

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He would no longer
be a powerful king

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even without him
doing anything differently.

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So all of the power comes
from those over whom it is exercised.

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And you can imagine,
if you imagine that stage,

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imagine just one of those people
getting up, turning their back,

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and playing the trumpet,

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it would have an amazing
sensational effect, wouldn't it?

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It's a kind of extraordinary thing.

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It's like a human version
of the butterfly effect

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that physicists talk of.

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One flap of the wings

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and you have a really distinct
change in the weather.

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And so it's really rather wonderful.

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We can see it when
I talk about the stage

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but what about in real life?

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What about your life?
Your everyday life?

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If you don't like the status quo,

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how can you get up

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and turn your back and
do something better instead?

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Well, there are lots of ways

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but I want to have
a little experiment in this room.

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I want to see what the human
butterfly effect can look like,

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and what I'm going to ask you to do,

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is one of the most beautiful
things you can do,

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to be a human butterfly.

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Don't do anything yet, okay?

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Turn to your neighbor,

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and it's going to be someone
you don't already know,

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so its someone behind you
or in front of you.

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And I want you just to smile,

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and say what your name is
and introduce yourself

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because you don't get
to choose your neighbors.

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The people who are sitting
near you are your neighbors.

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Now I've explained it and given
to you a little bit of extra time,

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because I know that some people
are listening on translation.

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I don't want them to be shocked
by you turning around

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and introducing yourself
before they understand.

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So now if anyone
is listening on translation

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can you put your hand up

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to tell me that you've
already understood this?

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OK. Thank you.

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So now please just quickly
introduce yourself to each other.

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Now. Off you go!

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(Chatter)

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Hello, John-Paul.
Nice to meet you.

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Thank you. Thank you.
That's great!

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What a lovely sight!

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(Applause)

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Congratulations to all of you.
Thank you.

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It's really important to recognize
that these neighbors around you

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are not the ones you chose
but they're the ones you've got.

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And it's really lovely
to introduce yourself

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in a friendly way to your neighbors,

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but it's easy at TED because everyone
here is obviously really lovely.

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But I want you to promise,
that when you go home,

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you will introduce yourself
to another neighbor,

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who is not someone
who you chose,

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and just see if you can spread
a little bit of the love that way.

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So that's a little thing you can do.

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Meanwhile,
I want to move on

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and I want to talk about certain
types of political action we can do,

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other than saying hello
to our neighbors.

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The great American political
scientist Gene Sharp,

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has spent a lifetime collecting

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198 forms of non-violent political
action, an amazing variety.

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He wants to encourage people to use

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some of the things
that have been used before.

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So he has put all of these forms

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into basically three groups.

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The first one is highlighting an issue:

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That can be drawing
attention to an issue

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that nobody knows about,

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or it could be drawing
attention to an issue that

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everyone knows about
but they do not take it seriously.

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So highlighting an issue
is very important

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and we can all do that.

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I'm sure lots of people in this room

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have already posted things
on Facebook or tweeted about them.

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And that's very light-weight
and easy, but valuable.

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But sometimes highlighting
an issue can be really dangerous.

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You're putting yourself at some risk.

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So I'm going to tell you about
the White Rose group.

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That's this group in this picture

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who are now national
heroes in Germany

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because they stood up to fascism.

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And they didn't want to be a part
of what the Nazi regime were doing,

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so they sent letters
to their fellow citizens.

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They wrote letters,
they printed them on a machine

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and they sent them at random,
to people throughout the country

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whose names and addresses
they got from the phone book.

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Can you imagine the effect
when you get one of those letters?

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In order to give
themselves the appearacnce

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of being a great nation-wide network,

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they also, at great risk,
travelled across the country

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with their printing press
and with their letters,

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so they could send them from
Dusseldorf to Cologne

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and Dresden to Berlin and Munich,
and you get the picture.

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So that's what they did.

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So sometimes just
highlighting an issue

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can be incredibly
dangerous stuff.

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It can be easy,
it can be dangerous.

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The second category is
withdrawing your consent

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from something you disapprove of.

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So I could tell you about
Moses and the Israelites

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who didn't like the way the Pharaoh

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was carrying on,
so they got out of Egypt.

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It's quite simple
withdrawal of consent.

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But I want to tell you about Rosa Parks,

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a seamstress who,
one day, in the 1950s,

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decided on the bus
in Montgomery, Alabama,

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that she was not going
to give up her seat

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to a white person
as the rules required.

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And one reason why I like
her story, is that she said

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she was too tired to go along
with the system any longer.

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So you don't have to be full
of energy and enthusiasm

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to change things.
You can just be quite tired.

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Another reason why
I like Rosa Parks' story

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is that she didn't actually run
everything that happened afterwards.

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That was her thing, she was a spark

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that led lots of other people in the black
community to do amazing stuff,

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But she didn't run everything.

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So don't worry, you can start
something and if it's any good,

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people will follow and
they will take it on.

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That's ok, you can relax.

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And the third thing
I like about her thing,

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is that she started
with something very small.

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It's very hard to believe,
with hindsight,

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that lots of people at the time

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thought that what they were
doing was campaigning

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to change the rules
about where black people

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were allowed to sit on buses
in Montgomery, Alabama.

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But actually of course
their success and their ambition

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increased over time, so within
a very remarkably short period,

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00:08:05,743 --> 00:08:07,583
they had desegregation
across the whole of the U.S.,

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which is a previously
unthinkable achievement.

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So you can start
with something small

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and you will become
more ambitious as a result of it.

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So that's withdrawing your consent.

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The third broad category is building

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a better alternative to what
is currently available.

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So I could tell you about
Charles De Gaulle

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00:08:24,116 --> 00:08:27,399
who set up the French government
in exile in the Second World War,

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bacause he didn't like the ones
that was in Vichy France,

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but I want to tell you instead
about my friend Richard Reynolds,

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00:08:33,104 --> 00:08:35,626
who lives in a tower block
in South London,

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in a rather unattractive
part of London,

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he wouldn't mind me saying that.

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He lives in a high floor
so he doesn't have a garden.

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So one day he
started to go downstairs,

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and look around in the area
where he lived,

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and he found bits of earth,
and he would put plants down.

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He wasn't a very good gardener,
so some of the plants died

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but he got better and
some of the plants survived.

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And then some
of his friends joined in,

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and then complete
strangers joined in

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and then the local authority said,

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"You can't do that,
it's not your land."

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But they carried on anyway,

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because they
are Guerilla Gardeners.

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You see, and Richard is the leader

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00:09:04,736 --> 00:09:06,221
of the worldwide
Guerilla Gardening Movement,

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00:09:06,221 --> 00:09:09,202
and if you look him up online,
he is Richard_001.

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But the thing is, the reason why
I mentioned this story,

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is that anything you do, can be an
inspirational example to someone else.

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And Richard is an inspirational
example, he is a leader.

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One other little thing I'd like
to point out about Richard,

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is [that] his great blessing is
he doesn't have a garden.

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If he'd had a garden he wouldn't
be a Guerilla gardener, would he?

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The thing that you see is
a lack or a short coming

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00:09:25,739 --> 00:09:27,469
could be the thing that's
really the making of you.

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So that's quite an encouraging
thought, isn't it?

243
00:09:29,482 --> 00:09:31,545
So, all of these people
can be an inspiring example.

244
00:09:31,545 --> 00:09:33,984
I've taken great care
to tell you about things

245
00:09:33,984 --> 00:09:36,945
like desegregation
or fighting fascism

246
00:09:36,945 --> 00:09:37,945
which is sort of terribly important

247
00:09:37,945 --> 00:09:39,242
but also to tell you
about someone

248
00:09:39,242 --> 00:09:40,945
who just wants
to do some gardening.

249
00:09:40,945 --> 00:09:42,013
Because when you're changing the world

250
00:09:42,029 --> 00:09:43,466
it doesn't have to be
changing the whole world.

251
00:09:43,466 --> 00:09:45,571
And something that you perceive
to be very important to you,

252
00:09:45,571 --> 00:09:47,945
it could be just changing your world
in a way to make it better

253
00:09:47,945 --> 00:09:49,889
and gardening is fine.

254
00:09:49,889 --> 00:09:53,555
So what are you going to do?
I'm not going to tell you.

255
00:09:53,555 --> 00:09:56,341
Often we feel like we're impaled
on a kind of a paradox:

256
00:09:56,341 --> 00:09:57,801
We really want to do something,

257
00:09:57,801 --> 00:10:00,117
but we have no idea
what it is going to be.

258
00:10:00,117 --> 00:10:01,256
And one way to resolve that

259
00:10:01,256 --> 00:10:04,781
is to think about
the things that you enjoy.

260
00:10:06,349 --> 00:10:09,288
And so I want you
to think about that.

261
00:10:09,304 --> 00:10:13,387
The positive psychologists
are people who got fed up

262
00:10:13,387 --> 00:10:14,623
with being negative psychologists

263
00:10:14,623 --> 00:10:15,786
and saying what's
wrong with people.

264
00:10:15,786 --> 00:10:17,467
They wanted to find out
what's great about people

265
00:10:17,467 --> 00:10:18,666
and share that knowledge.

266
00:10:18,666 --> 00:10:19,704
So they did a test.

267
00:10:19,704 --> 00:10:20,709
One of the things they did,

268
00:10:20,709 --> 00:10:23,680
they sent out two groups of people
to find out what gives people pleasure.

269
00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:26,144
The first was sent
to do hedonism,

270
00:10:26,144 --> 00:10:29,471
if you like having a foot massage
while eating chocolate.

271
00:10:29,471 --> 00:10:31,743
And the second group was sent out
to do something meaningful.

272
00:10:31,743 --> 00:10:33,143
Meaningful to them,
I'll come back to that.

273
00:10:33,143 --> 00:10:34,905
The results came in and the people

274
00:10:34,905 --> 00:10:36,302
who'd done something meaningful,

275
00:10:36,302 --> 00:10:38,464
had a much deeper and longer
lasting sense of satisfaction

276
00:10:38,464 --> 00:10:40,225
than the ones who'd
done the hedonism.

277
00:10:40,225 --> 00:10:41,930
That something about
them had changed inside,

278
00:10:41,930 --> 00:10:45,024
they felt, I'm the sort of person
who does that thing, which is nice.

279
00:10:45,024 --> 00:10:46,583
So, changing the world
is actually nicer

280
00:10:46,583 --> 00:10:49,224
than having a foot massage
and eating chocolate.

281
00:10:49,224 --> 00:10:50,986
But the thing is, what is
something meaningful?

282
00:10:50,986 --> 00:10:53,677
You impose the meaning
on what you do, not me.

283
00:10:53,677 --> 00:10:54,904
I can't tell you
what is meaningful.

284
00:10:54,904 --> 00:10:55,986
I can give you an example:

285
00:10:55,986 --> 00:10:57,664
You could walk
your neighbor's dog,

286
00:10:57,664 --> 00:11:00,627
and really feel resentful and
really hate the whole thing

287
00:11:00,627 --> 00:11:01,908
and just not really
be happy about it.

288
00:11:01,908 --> 00:11:03,503
Or you could walk
your neighbors' dog,

289
00:11:03,503 --> 00:11:04,545
because your neighbor's unwell,

290
00:11:04,545 --> 00:11:05,837
and you know that
they'd feel really happy

291
00:11:05,837 --> 00:11:06,824
for you having done it.

292
00:11:06,824 --> 00:11:07,986
As you would feel
all puffed up with joy,

293
00:11:07,986 --> 00:11:09,687
you'd feel like a really great person.

294
00:11:09,687 --> 00:11:11,789
So the same thing,
can be either good or bad.

295
00:11:11,789 --> 00:11:12,744
You impose meaning, not me.

296
00:11:12,744 --> 00:11:15,339
So you need to think what actually
is something meaningful to you,

297
00:11:15,339 --> 00:11:16,762
and one way to do that
is to ask yourself

298
00:11:16,762 --> 00:11:19,056
what have you done in the past
to make a difference,

299
00:11:19,056 --> 00:11:20,677
that made you feel good.

300
00:11:20,677 --> 00:11:22,163
And what are the dreams that you've had.

301
00:11:22,163 --> 00:11:24,483
But if you really want to cut
to the absolute nub of issue,

302
00:11:24,483 --> 00:11:27,275
you must ask yourself this question:

303
00:11:27,275 --> 00:11:31,385
What would you do if you knew
you couldn't fail?

304
00:11:31,385 --> 00:11:32,782
As if success was magically guaranteed.

305
00:11:32,782 --> 00:11:34,583
It's important to ask
the question in that way.

306
00:11:34,583 --> 00:11:36,387
So you get rid of the boring answers

307
00:11:36,387 --> 00:11:37,466
that are sort of achievable,

308
00:11:37,466 --> 00:11:38,514
and you don't really want to do them.

309
00:11:38,514 --> 00:11:40,690
Go for the one that is
absolutely sensational,

310
00:11:40,690 --> 00:11:41,907
and you are really passionate about,

311
00:11:41,907 --> 00:11:43,464
because then you will persist with it.

312
00:11:43,464 --> 00:11:44,988
So you do that.
Ask yourself that question,

313
00:11:44,988 --> 00:11:46,906
keep that question from now
to the rest of your lives.

314
00:11:46,906 --> 00:11:48,742
And then once you've
come up with an answer,

315
00:11:48,742 --> 00:11:50,176
I'll hope it would be something
so magnificent,

316
00:11:50,176 --> 00:11:52,343
you're almost embarrassed
to tell anybody because it's so great.

317
00:11:52,343 --> 00:11:53,910
And then there is a danger:

318
00:11:53,910 --> 00:11:55,096
What might happen then,

319
00:11:55,096 --> 00:11:57,836
is you put it on a shrine
and it will be like an icon.

320
00:11:57,845 --> 00:11:59,503
Or it will be like a beautiful painting

321
00:11:59,503 --> 00:12:01,384
that's been beautifully painted,
has got a beautiful frame

322
00:12:01,384 --> 00:12:03,965
and you know just where it's going
to go in the whole way at home.

323
00:12:03,985 --> 00:12:07,198
But nobody is painting it,
so it's not going to happen.

324
00:12:07,198 --> 00:12:08,847
And you are using static thinking.

325
00:12:08,847 --> 00:12:11,582
We might want to move away
from static thinking to process thinking.

326
00:12:11,597 --> 00:12:13,146
Instead of thinking
about the end result,

327
00:12:13,146 --> 00:12:15,442
start thinking about it 
as a process.

328
00:12:15,442 --> 00:12:16,950
One person who can help us with that,

329
00:12:16,950 --> 00:12:19,356
is the german philosopher
Nietzsche, who said:

330
00:12:19,356 --> 00:12:23,121
"Not every end is a goal.
The end of a melody is not a goal."

331
00:12:23,121 --> 00:12:24,716
He's got a point but
what does he mean?

332
00:12:24,716 --> 00:12:26,838
Well if you go to a concert,
you don't say,

333
00:12:26,838 --> 00:12:29,806
"I wish this music would finish
and then I can really enjoy it."

334
00:12:29,806 --> 00:12:31,665
You enjoy it as it goes along.

335
00:12:31,665 --> 00:12:35,225
So start thinking about your mission
instead as a piece of music.

336
00:12:35,227 --> 00:12:37,967
It's already started. Can you hear it?
I think it sounds great.

337
00:12:37,967 --> 00:12:39,225
So that's what you want to do.

338
00:12:39,225 --> 00:12:40,824
What is great about noticing that,

339
00:12:40,824 --> 00:12:42,769
it is a process instead of an end result
that you are after,

340
00:12:42,769 --> 00:12:44,814
is you then liberate yourself
to stop being freaked out

341
00:12:44,814 --> 00:12:46,859
by the sheer monumental scale
of what you want to do,

342
00:12:46,859 --> 00:12:48,905
and you enjoy every step,
because no one did anything

343
00:12:48,905 --> 00:12:51,505
in all of human kind
except in small steps.

344
00:12:51,505 --> 00:12:53,067
And Neil Armstrong
didn't wake up one morning,

345
00:12:53,067 --> 00:12:54,770
and said, "I'm going to the moon now."

346
00:12:54,770 --> 00:12:57,779
Lots of people had to go
to the office and do stuff.

347
00:12:57,779 --> 00:12:59,306
So we can all do that.

348
00:12:59,306 --> 00:13:00,366
We have to notice the smalls steps

349
00:13:00,366 --> 00:13:01,904
and the great thing about smalls steps
is they give you courage.

350
00:13:01,904 --> 00:13:04,178
There are mini victories, they move you
onto the next small step,

351
00:13:04,178 --> 00:13:05,264
that's not quite so small,

352
00:13:05,264 --> 00:13:07,789
and so you can use those as a way
to encourage yourself.

353
00:13:07,789 --> 00:13:08,984
So you've got your mission,

354
00:13:08,984 --> 00:13:11,310
you've got the need
to find small steps,

355
00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:12,687
but if you really want
to pin down the small steps,

356
00:13:12,687 --> 00:13:14,021
ask yourself this question:

357
00:13:14,021 --> 00:13:17,774
What can you do
in the next 24 hours?

358
00:13:17,774 --> 00:13:19,344
Because if you can't do
anything in the next 24 hours,

359
00:13:19,344 --> 00:13:22,755
what makes you think
you will ever start?

360
00:13:22,755 --> 00:13:25,134
Ok, so you've got the mission,
you've got the small steps,

361
00:13:25,135 --> 00:13:27,907
and now you're going
to need to find some allies.

362
00:13:27,907 --> 00:13:29,592
You're not going to do
much all on your own.

363
00:13:29,592 --> 00:13:30,775
So one way you can do that,

364
00:13:30,775 --> 00:13:32,147
is to try and draw a map
of your support network,

365
00:13:32,147 --> 00:13:33,442
the people you already know.

366
00:13:33,442 --> 00:13:34,665
Do it like this,
put yourself in the middle,

367
00:13:34,665 --> 00:13:36,026
put the names of people
around the edge

368
00:13:36,026 --> 00:13:38,786
who give you support
and to whom you give support.

369
00:13:38,786 --> 00:13:40,962
So on this one you can see
I'm giving a lot of support to William.

370
00:13:40,985 --> 00:13:42,102
He is giving me nothing back.

371
00:13:42,102 --> 00:13:44,836
What do I do about that?
I'll have to work it out.

372
00:13:44,836 --> 00:13:48,118
But the relationships
that are most useful,

373
00:13:48,118 --> 00:13:50,310
and psychologists use this
with addicts and alcoholics,

374
00:13:50,310 --> 00:13:51,723
are the ones that are reciprocal.

375
00:13:51,723 --> 00:13:54,500
So you can see Sonya and Ben,
both are reciprocal relationships.

376
00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:56,146
So you might want to draw this map,
it is quite interesting.

377
00:13:56,146 --> 00:13:58,397
And then go and ask
those people for help.

378
00:13:58,397 --> 00:14:00,551
You must actually ask them to help you.

379
00:14:00,551 --> 00:14:03,009
You might think, "I can't ask,
that's awful, a real imposition."

380
00:14:03,009 --> 00:14:04,665
But people like to be asked,
because it means

381
00:14:04,665 --> 00:14:06,815
that they are wise and kind
and generous and sensitive.

382
00:14:06,815 --> 00:14:09,085
But the only reason people
don't like to be asked,

383
00:14:09,085 --> 00:14:11,146
is when they can't see
a way to say no.

384
00:14:11,146 --> 00:14:12,519
So you say to them,
"Would you help?

385
00:14:12,519 --> 00:14:13,863
And by the way if you can't,

386
00:14:13,863 --> 00:14:16,115
either now or at any time
in the future, I really don't mind."

387
00:14:16,115 --> 00:14:17,146
And you have to mean it.

388
00:14:17,146 --> 00:14:18,103
And once you've asked them
in that way,

389
00:14:18,103 --> 00:14:19,366
why would they say no?

390
00:14:19,366 --> 00:14:20,609
And what you have done
then is liberate them

391
00:14:20,609 --> 00:14:22,578
to be an active part of your mission.

392
00:14:22,578 --> 00:14:25,174
They will want to do things,
to really be part of it.

393
00:14:25,174 --> 00:14:26,300
And they'll phone you and say,

394
00:14:26,300 --> 00:14:27,429
they've seen something
in the newspapers.

395
00:14:27,429 --> 00:14:28,505
So that's great.

396
00:14:28,505 --> 00:14:30,105
You may also find that
there are other people,

397
00:14:30,105 --> 00:14:31,182
sort of activists all over the country.

398
00:14:31,182 --> 00:14:32,746
This is my country, the U.K.

399
00:14:32,746 --> 00:14:34,904
You may find people spread
all over the place,

400
00:14:34,904 --> 00:14:36,770
and you can go and find some of those.

401
00:14:36,770 --> 00:14:40,346
And I want to end, by giving you
some account of my own experience.

402
00:14:40,346 --> 00:14:41,618
Because I feel a bit dishonored,

403
00:14:41,618 --> 00:14:44,353
standing in front of you and say
anyone could change the world,

404
00:14:44,353 --> 00:14:48,001
if I didn't try to say something
how I've tried to do.

405
00:14:48,001 --> 00:14:49,206
So some years ago,

406
00:14:49,206 --> 00:14:50,746
I got very seriously freaked out,

407
00:14:50,746 --> 00:14:52,106
very depressed about climate change,

408
00:14:52,106 --> 00:14:56,109
and peak oil, result shortages,
that are coming.

409
00:14:56,109 --> 00:14:57,177
And I didn't know what to do,

410
00:14:57,177 --> 00:14:59,038
I thought we had to change
the whole way that everyone lives,

411
00:14:59,056 --> 00:15:01,561
we had to get much more
self-sufficient, more resourceful,

412
00:15:01,561 --> 00:15:02,666
stop flying things around the world.

413
00:15:02,666 --> 00:15:05,071
Everyone has got to start growing food.

414
00:15:05,071 --> 00:15:06,726
They've got to start making
their own clothes,

415
00:15:06,726 --> 00:15:07,927
doing all sorts of things like that.

416
00:15:07,927 --> 00:15:09,827
So I joined all the campaign
groups you can imagine

417
00:15:09,827 --> 00:15:11,118
and there were wonderful

418
00:15:11,118 --> 00:15:14,919
and we did some great stuff
joining these networks nationwide.

419
00:15:14,919 --> 00:15:16,492
After about a year,

420
00:15:16,507 --> 00:15:17,585
I realized we were doing
some amazing stuff

421
00:15:17,585 --> 00:15:18,958
but I was seeing all the same faces.

422
00:15:18,958 --> 00:15:20,542
Lovely faces, but all the same faces.

423
00:15:20,542 --> 00:15:21,783
And I wanted everybody to change,

424
00:15:21,783 --> 00:15:24,206
not just the seasoned campaigners.

425
00:15:24,206 --> 00:15:26,618
And I happen around then to read
a book by Alistair Mackintosh

426
00:15:26,625 --> 00:15:29,754
which talks about how it's
no good being a campaigner,

427
00:15:29,754 --> 00:15:31,265
if you're not a good neighbor.

428
00:15:31,265 --> 00:15:32,531
And it kind of hit me
in the head right there,

429
00:15:32,531 --> 00:15:34,022
so you know why I've now asked you

430
00:15:34,022 --> 00:15:35,266
to think of each other as neighbors.

431
00:15:35,266 --> 00:15:36,506
I felt like, what can I do with it,

432
00:15:36,506 --> 00:15:38,459
so I can resign from
these campaigners,

433
00:15:38,459 --> 00:15:40,327
and I went to work on my street,

434
00:15:40,327 --> 00:15:43,636
and I had an allotment where
I was growing my own food.

435
00:15:43,636 --> 00:15:46,222
And so I went to the allotment,
filled a sack full of apples

436
00:15:46,222 --> 00:15:47,448
and I went home.

437
00:15:47,448 --> 00:15:49,452
And I have a wonderful beautiful wife
and daughter,

438
00:15:49,452 --> 00:15:53,077
little daughter at the time, Nancy,
and so I grabbed Nancy's hand,

439
00:15:53,077 --> 00:15:56,146
I didn't need to take Nancy,
but she gave me courage basically.

440
00:15:56,162 --> 00:15:57,562
And so I took the sack and the apples,

441
00:15:57,562 --> 00:15:59,268
and I carried Nancy along with me.

442
00:15:59,268 --> 00:16:01,585
We knocked on every door,
and people opened the door

443
00:16:01,585 --> 00:16:03,596
and I said I'm taking the risk.

444
00:16:03,596 --> 00:16:06,229
Yeah, a man with apples and
a lovely daughter isn't a big threat.

445
00:16:06,229 --> 00:16:07,993
And they opened the door
and I took the apples,

446
00:16:07,993 --> 00:16:09,940
and so that was nice
to get to know people a bit better.

447
00:16:09,945 --> 00:16:13,204
Then, the sneaky bit
was six months later

448
00:16:13,204 --> 00:16:15,551
but forgive me, because
it came from the right place.

449
00:16:15,551 --> 00:16:18,470
I deliberately grew
too many tomato seedlings,

450
00:16:18,470 --> 00:16:19,807
and I put them all in a box,

451
00:16:19,807 --> 00:16:21,402
and I grabbed Nancy's
lovely hand again,

452
00:16:21,402 --> 00:16:23,810
and we walked on the street,
and knocked on the doors.

453
00:16:23,810 --> 00:16:26,418
We'd said, "Hello", then
Nancy again said, "Hello"

454
00:16:26,418 --> 00:16:29,344
and I said "Oh dear, I've got
too many tomato seedlings"

455
00:16:29,344 --> 00:16:31,147
and I gave it to them,
and they took them.

456
00:16:31,147 --> 00:16:33,363
And I know for a fact that
many people in my street

457
00:16:33,386 --> 00:16:35,195
that year for the first time
started growing food.

458
00:16:35,195 --> 00:16:39,123
So I hadn't had to freak them out about
climate change or resort shortages.

459
00:16:39,123 --> 00:16:40,458
I just got them growing a plant,

460
00:16:40,474 --> 00:16:41,775
that was kind of the solution.

461
00:16:41,775 --> 00:16:43,283
So I was very lucky,
it was possible in that way,

462
00:16:43,303 --> 00:16:45,929
to find the happy solution that way.

463
00:16:45,929 --> 00:16:49,040
Nancy drew a picture, this is
a reenactment for you.

464
00:16:49,054 --> 00:16:51,945
So I had been lucky

465
00:16:51,945 --> 00:16:54,290
and by chance I discovered
something that's really important

466
00:16:54,290 --> 00:16:56,857
which is: Try to emphasize the positive.

467
00:16:56,857 --> 00:16:59,264
Because as the late philosopher
Reynold Williams once said,

468
00:16:59,264 --> 00:17:02,564
"The key is not to make
despair convincing,

469
00:17:02,564 --> 00:17:05,383
but to make hope possible."

470
00:17:05,383 --> 00:17:08,183
You are on a journey,
it starts now.

471
00:17:08,183 --> 00:17:09,946
You might as well make it fun.

472
00:17:09,946 --> 00:17:11,815
Thank you.

473
00:17:11,815 --> 00:17:14,507
(Applause)