Decisions for life | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul
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0:05 - 0:06Hello.
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0:06 - 0:08As I am the last speaker today,
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0:08 - 0:11I think I have the privilege
to speak as much as I want. -
0:11 - 0:14I assume you are already feeling tired
and thinking it’s time to leave. -
0:14 - 0:18Let me tell you from the beginning
that I will save my best bit till the end. -
0:18 - 0:20(Laughter)
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0:20 - 0:22I am a brain surgeon.
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0:22 - 0:24This is my office.
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0:24 - 0:27I have one of the most
challenging jobs on earth. -
0:28 - 0:31What would you think
is the most challenging part of my job? -
0:32 - 0:35Working for long hours
under this microscope? -
0:36 - 0:41Or the risk to lose a life
or leave a patient disabled -
0:41 - 0:45with a minor mistake I make?
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0:46 - 0:48That’s definitely not
the most challenging part. -
0:48 - 0:51But meeting with people
-
0:51 - 0:54who've learned that they have
a brain tumor in their head -
0:54 - 0:57or whose lives go upside down
with a rupture of a brain aneurysm -
0:57 - 0:59and have cerebral hemorrhage.
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0:59 - 1:01The hardest part of my job
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1:01 - 1:04is to have a face-to-face
conversation with a mother -
1:04 - 1:09who has just learned that there is
a tumor in her kid’s cerebellum -
1:09 - 1:12and to try to explain her the situation.
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1:13 - 1:15I don’t see my patients as cases.
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1:16 - 1:18I see them as a whole
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1:18 - 1:23with their feelings,
opinions, loved ones and jobs. -
1:25 - 1:31I think about how the disease
they’ve been trapped in will affect them -
1:31 - 1:33and how I can help them out.
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1:34 - 1:38Today I will tell you
about moments and choices. -
1:38 - 1:42Momentum reminds me of a moment,
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1:42 - 1:45I mean a moment of time
and then an action. -
1:46 - 1:49The most distinct feature
of motion is its direction. -
1:49 - 1:53When a truck is moving on a straight line
on a highway, it is not a problem. -
1:53 - 1:55But when the driver turns
the wheel towards the barriers, -
1:55 - 1:57then we get a problem.
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1:58 - 2:03The direction of the action
marks the choice. -
2:03 - 2:07Humans are defined
by their moments and choices. -
2:08 - 2:09What is a moment?
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2:09 - 2:12A minute? Ten minutes?
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2:12 - 2:14If a moment is a minute,
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2:15 - 2:18then you have 25 million moments
in your whole lifetime -
2:18 - 2:21excluding the time you invest in sleep.
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2:21 - 2:24If it's ten minutes,
you have 2.5 million moments. -
2:24 - 2:26Of course, this is true for any newborn.
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2:27 - 2:29I mean, we don’t have much time.
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2:30 - 2:33Because of this, our moments
and choices gain importance. -
2:34 - 2:36I’ll give you examples of moments -
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2:36 - 2:40examples from choices from my patients,
from myself and from other people. -
2:41 - 2:43There’s this young man at the age of 17.
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2:43 - 2:46He has many problems, like most of us.
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2:47 - 2:49And he’s also in love.
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2:49 - 2:51He wants to talk to the girl who he loves,
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2:51 - 2:54and he is determined
to talk to her that day. -
2:54 - 2:56He keeps texting her but gets no replies.
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2:56 - 2:58He calls her this time, again no reply.
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2:59 - 3:02Then he calls her again,
and his call gets suspended. -
3:02 - 3:04He goes to the living room,
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3:04 - 3:07opens the window
and jumps into the void. -
3:07 - 3:09No, he doesn’t die.
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3:09 - 3:11He becomes paraplegic.
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3:12 - 3:16He will spend the rest
of his life in a wheel chair -
3:16 - 3:19with all his problems remaining the same.
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3:20 - 3:24No choice should be made against life,
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3:24 - 3:28including the choices on our life,
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3:28 - 3:32since there’s only
one sacred thing on this earth, -
3:32 - 3:34which is life.
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3:35 - 3:38This holds true for all the children
who die from hunger in Africa -
3:38 - 3:42or in a bombardment in the Middle East.
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3:43 - 3:46It holds true for the dolphins
slaughtered at the Faroe islands -
3:46 - 3:50as wells as the dogs
poisoned to death by municipalities. -
3:51 - 3:55It also holds true for the trees
chopped to build a mall in Gezi Park, -
3:55 - 3:57chopped to build a mosque in Validebağ
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3:57 - 4:01or chopped for a power plant in Soma.
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4:02 - 4:05(Applause)
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4:07 - 4:09By the way, dear ladies and gentlemen,
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4:09 - 4:13please do not forget to reply
to the texts from your loved ones -
4:13 - 4:16as long as the text you received
doesn't include harsh words. -
4:16 - 4:20I’ve had so many patients
who have jumped into the void. -
4:20 - 4:23Another of my patients
is a woman at the age of 29. -
4:23 - 4:25She was married,
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4:25 - 4:27had a happy marriage and a good job.
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4:28 - 4:30She was having headaches.
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4:30 - 4:33She got an MRI, and a big
vascular lump was found. -
4:33 - 4:34She came to me.
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4:35 - 4:37I began to inform her about her condition,
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4:37 - 4:40that she had had the lump since birth
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4:40 - 4:44and it could stay there
doing no harm until the end of her life. -
4:44 - 4:47She suddenly took the words
out of my mouth and said, -
4:47 - 4:49"But it might also bleed
tomorrow and I might die." -
4:49 - 4:51For a while now,
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4:51 - 4:54patients have been researching
their illnesses on the Internet. -
4:54 - 4:58They research me too.
They know almost everything about me. -
4:58 - 5:02She said, "They say you’re good
at this kind of surgery. Save me." -
5:02 - 5:06I told her the risks of the operation,
including disabilities and death. -
5:06 - 5:08She said, "I want the operation."
-
5:08 - 5:10The operation took 20 hours.
-
5:10 - 5:14She came out of the operation
with both legs and one arm paralyzed. -
5:15 - 5:21And then she gave me the best gift
I’ve ever got from a patient: -
5:22 - 5:24this postcard.
-
5:25 - 5:27It pictures her and her husband.
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5:27 - 5:29On the back side, it says,
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5:29 - 5:33January 2002, the diagnosis;
April 2002, the operation; -
5:33 - 5:36August 2002, 3200 meters high
on Mount Kaçkar. -
5:37 - 5:38She made a choice,
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5:38 - 5:42and I am so happy that I
could give her a life she wished for. -
5:42 - 5:45The next story is a bit more touching.
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5:45 - 5:50A man in his mid-30s
had an epileptic attack. -
5:50 - 5:52They took him to the ER.
He got an MRI scan. -
5:52 - 5:55A big tumor in the right
hemisphere of the brain. -
5:56 - 5:57He came to me.
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5:57 - 6:01With a bitter smile on his face, he asked,
"Doc, you think I can survive?" -
6:01 - 6:03It was a malignant one.
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6:03 - 6:06I said, "We both will fight against it."
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6:06 - 6:08I operated on him
three times in two years. -
6:09 - 6:11One day, he called me.
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6:11 - 6:12He said,
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6:12 - 6:15"Doc, I lived the last two years well.
I did everything I dreamed of. -
6:15 - 6:18I had fantasies and realized them all.
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6:18 - 6:21I enjoyed 40-50 years in only two years."
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6:22 - 6:24He died a week later.
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6:25 - 6:26Should it have been like that?
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6:26 - 6:28Do we have to crashed into a wall
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6:28 - 6:31before we understand
the value of our lives? -
6:31 - 6:35We come out from a cubicle called home
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6:35 - 6:42to go to another cubicle called work
every single morning. -
6:42 - 6:45We keep wasting a lifetime
-
6:45 - 6:49while our imagination
and creativity fade away. -
6:49 - 6:53We strive hard to earn more,
get higher social status -
6:53 - 6:56and become more powerful.
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6:57 - 7:01Yet does being powerful
help us to get more decent? -
7:01 - 7:03Most of the time, it makes us worse.
-
7:04 - 7:07We become more alienated
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7:07 - 7:11from our surroundings
and the planet we live on. -
7:12 - 7:15When was the last time
you had a look at a world map? -
7:16 - 7:20How many of you have ever
dreamed of going to the poles -
7:20 - 7:23or going down a trench on a submarine?
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7:23 - 7:25If you didn’t,
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7:25 - 7:30then how would your children
dream of going to Jupiter or Uranus? -
7:30 - 7:33How would our children
growing up in this land do so? -
7:35 - 7:38I’ll give you two examples
of two mariners. -
7:38 - 7:39I am a sailor myself too.
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7:39 - 7:41Two great female sailors.
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7:42 - 7:43The first one is Jean Socrates,
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7:43 - 7:46a retired math teacher at the age of 70.
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7:47 - 7:50She and her husband learned
how to sail after the age of 50. -
7:51 - 7:54They sold their house and bought
a sailboat to travel around the world. -
7:54 - 7:57They named it Nereida.
-
7:57 - 8:00But her husband died because of cancer.
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8:01 - 8:04This 70-year-old woman took the challenge
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8:04 - 8:08and decided to travel around the world
nonstop on the most challenging route. -
8:08 - 8:10Very few people had managed to do so.
-
8:10 - 8:12She set off.
-
8:12 - 8:15She tried to complete her journey
but had to stop on the way. -
8:15 - 8:18So she could not achieve her goal,
but she set off again. -
8:18 - 8:22She needed to stop once again,
only 60 miles before the finish line. -
8:22 - 8:24She set off again,
-
8:25 - 8:29and finally she became the oldest person
and one of the few people -
8:29 - 8:31that sailed nonstop around the world.
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8:32 - 8:35Another great sailor, Ellen MacArthur.
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8:35 - 8:37She has a petite figure
and is 152 cm tall. -
8:38 - 8:41She joined one of the toughest
sport competitions in the world, -
8:42 - 8:44called Vendée Globe.
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8:45 - 8:46She fought off
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8:46 - 8:49the 10-15-metre-high waves
of the Southern Ocean -
8:49 - 8:53on a 60-foot sailboat for 94 days,
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8:53 - 8:56and finished the competition
in second place. -
8:56 - 8:57Three years later,
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8:57 - 9:00she became the fastest person on earth
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9:00 - 9:03to sail around the world with a trimaran.
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9:03 - 9:05Both of these great women
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9:05 - 9:09are now fighting off cancer
with the associations they founded -
9:09 - 9:11as they keep sailing at the same time.
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9:11 - 9:13They have become role-models
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9:13 - 9:16and a source of inspiration
for the children in their countries. -
9:16 - 9:17I now remember a year ago.
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9:18 - 9:20One of my patients
was having a brain hemorrhage. -
9:20 - 9:23She was in the operation room
two hours later. -
9:23 - 9:26This video is an episode
from her operation. -
9:27 - 9:33Soon, I will experience the worst thing
a brain surgeon can ever experience. -
9:33 - 9:35We call it a premature rupture.
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9:35 - 9:39Before I got to explore
the anatomy of the patient, -
9:39 - 9:41the aneurysm burst.
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9:41 - 9:43The blood which should flow to the brain
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9:44 - 9:46was coming out with such a great pressure
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9:46 - 9:49that it was like water
coming out of a hose. -
9:51 - 9:54If I could not have stopped
the bleeding in couple of minutes, -
9:54 - 9:56I’d have lost the patient.
-
9:57 - 10:01Seconds were running by
and my coronary arteries shriveled up. -
10:01 - 10:03But it’s my job.
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10:03 - 10:07I’d done hundreds of operations
like this in the past 25 years. -
10:07 - 10:10I knew how to stop this bleeding.
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10:12 - 10:14I clipped the aneurysm.
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10:14 - 10:15I saved the patient’s life.
-
10:16 - 10:18I am a surgeon
who is in love with his job. -
10:18 - 10:20I am a surgeon who does his job well.
-
10:21 - 10:24I have been doing
what I was dreaming of as a kid. -
10:24 - 10:28I’ve educated a lot
of residents and students. -
10:28 - 10:29I have written books,
-
10:29 - 10:32and I am well-known
both nationwide and worldwide. -
10:32 - 10:39Yet it started to feel inadequate
to have only one dimension in my life, -
10:39 - 10:41to get stuck in neurosurgery.
-
10:42 - 10:46After that operation, I went to Taksim.
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10:46 - 10:48It was June.
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10:48 - 10:55The Gezi Park protests have inspired
its participants in many different ways. -
10:56 - 10:58And for me,
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10:59 - 11:03it made me think that we live
on a planet called Earth. -
11:04 - 11:06I was here two months after.
-
11:06 - 11:09East Greenland, Angmagssalik region.
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11:09 - 11:11An Eskimo village called Kulusuk.
-
11:12 - 11:16My goal was to pass through
the Arctic Circle in a kayak. -
11:17 - 11:20I’d never rode in a kayak before.
-
11:20 - 11:22I’d never paddled.
-
11:22 - 11:24We sailed to the Greenland sea,
-
11:25 - 11:27and I was with people
I didn’t know at all. -
11:27 - 11:31We started to paddle
in the direction of the Arctic Circle, -
11:32 - 11:34which was 100 km away.
-
11:34 - 11:36I stayed in a tent on Greenland.
-
11:36 - 11:39I had not stayed in a tent
for the past 30 years. -
11:40 - 11:44I went to the toilet
watching out for polar bears. -
11:45 - 11:48I never washed for eight days.
-
11:48 - 11:51I mean, these were not very common things
-
11:51 - 11:54for a 50-year-old medical professor
-
11:54 - 11:56who was used to the modern urban life.
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11:57 - 12:01But in the end, I did it;
I passed through the Arctic Circle. -
12:02 - 12:04And here I was after three months:
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12:05 - 12:06Antarctica.
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12:07 - 12:09From Ushuaia -
-
12:10 - 12:12(Applause)
-
12:12 - 12:14Well, I’ll travel more
-
12:14 - 12:16if I keep getting
these rounds of applause. -
12:16 - 12:17(Laughter)
-
12:17 - 12:21We got onto this sailboat in Ushuaia,
-
12:22 - 12:24the southernmost city on Earth,
-
12:24 - 12:26and sailed to the Drake Passage.
-
12:26 - 12:29With eight more people;
people who I didn’t know at all. -
12:30 - 12:33The Drake Passage
is one of the toughest on earth. -
12:33 - 12:38It’s between South America and Antarctica
and rough for 300 days a year. -
12:39 - 12:42You get to this magnificent place
after you cross the Drake Passage. -
12:42 - 12:44Antarctica.
-
12:44 - 12:47You feel like you have arrived
on a different planet. -
12:47 - 12:51The best part of Antarctica
is that no one owns it. -
12:51 - 12:55No countries or
multinationals possess it. -
12:56 - 12:58Nobody tries to exploit
its natural resources. -
12:59 - 13:03Antarctica only belongs
to the creatures that live there. -
13:03 - 13:05I stayed in Antarctica for a month.
-
13:06 - 13:10I said goodbye to the penguins
on my way back home. -
13:10 - 13:12(Applause)
-
13:18 - 13:21I also didn’t forget to ask them,
-
13:21 - 13:23"What's with all these
documentaries of yours -
13:23 - 13:26shown on all TV channels
at the time of Gezi Park Protests -
13:26 - 13:28instead of showing the activists?"
-
13:28 - 13:31I am quoting you their response:
-
13:31 - 13:33"Dude, we live up here,
-
13:33 - 13:39so we don’t care whether they
build a mall in Taksim square or not. -
13:39 - 13:42They filmed us with a candid camera
-
13:42 - 13:44and showed it on TV
without asking our permission. -
13:45 - 13:47Our whole life has been exposed,
-
13:47 - 13:50whether it's the birth
of our kids or our sex life. -
13:50 - 13:54As you can see, we’re black
and white from birth. -
13:55 - 13:57We would have showed up
in Gezi with the Çarşı Group -
13:57 - 14:00if we had been in İstanbul then."
-
14:00 - 14:02(Applause)
-
14:03 - 14:06It would have been a nice scene, indeed,
-
14:06 - 14:11to march to Gezi cheering
with a large group of penguins. -
14:12 - 14:16On my way home from Antarctica,
-
14:16 - 14:19one of the best things
in my life happened. -
14:19 - 14:22First we saw the spouts.
-
14:23 - 14:25It was a group of big humpback whales.
-
14:25 - 14:27We lowered the sails and waited.
-
14:28 - 14:30They started to near us one by one,
-
14:30 - 14:35and soon the whole boat was surrounded
by twenty or so humpback whales. -
14:36 - 14:37Sounds scary?
-
14:38 - 14:41Not at all, they started
to play with us like kids. -
14:41 - 14:43They dived on one side of the boat
-
14:43 - 14:47and came to the surface on another
in the middle of the vast ocean. -
14:47 - 14:52They showed their flukes
and blew water out on our faces. -
14:52 - 14:57Even a pet will be bothered
when a visitor shows up at home. -
14:57 - 15:01Yet these whales taught us a lesson
of the friendship of all living creatures -
15:01 - 15:03in the middle of the ocean.
-
15:03 - 15:06Then I went back to my operating room.
-
15:07 - 15:10I was doing the surgeries
much more passionately than before. -
15:10 - 15:13I examined my patients,
but I was not who I used to be. -
15:14 - 15:18When one travels in the waters
of Greenland and Antarctica, -
15:18 - 15:19one don’t stay the same person.
-
15:19 - 15:21While I was working,
-
15:21 - 15:23I was also thinking about
walking to the South Pole -
15:23 - 15:26and swimming with the whales in Tongo.
-
15:27 - 15:29You might ask if it isn’t dangerous.
-
15:29 - 15:30It is.
-
15:30 - 15:33But trust me, urban life is no less.
-
15:33 - 15:37Especially if you live in Turkey,
Antarctica is much safer for sure. -
15:37 - 15:39(Laughter)
-
15:39 - 15:41We have only one life.
-
15:41 - 15:42Only one.
-
15:42 - 15:45We don’t know what’s afterwards.
-
15:45 - 15:49We were born into this life
and will live through it. -
15:50 - 15:52Change your lives.
-
15:52 - 15:54Start making changes from tomorrow on.
-
15:56 - 15:57Dream.
-
15:57 - 16:00Dream big and what seems impossible.
-
16:00 - 16:02Dream the toughest.
-
16:02 - 16:05Dream of climbing
the Everest, and plan it. -
16:06 - 16:08Maybe one day, you will climb Mount Ağrı.
-
16:08 - 16:09Not bad, ain’t it?
-
16:10 - 16:14Dream of sailing to the Mediterranean
and head for the oceans. -
16:15 - 16:20Maybe one day you get a fisherman boat
and live on the sea in Istanbul. -
16:20 - 16:21Not bad, ain’t it?
-
16:22 - 16:24Touch your life tomorrow.
-
16:25 - 16:29Stop being the audience
and come to the stage. -
16:29 - 16:33Be the actors and actresses
of your own life, not the audience. -
16:34 - 16:37Be the playwright
and the director of your life. -
16:37 - 16:39Touch your life.
-
16:39 - 16:42When one changes, everyone changes.
-
16:44 - 16:47Humans are defined
by their moments and choices. -
16:48 - 16:52Let your choices follow your dreams.
-
16:52 - 16:53Never forget!
-
16:54 - 16:56Always remember the Lapon sailors.
-
16:57 - 17:01The Lapon sailors never came back
-
17:01 - 17:05after they set to the Arctic Ocean
after their red-eyed deer. -
17:05 - 17:08And never thought of coming back.
-
17:09 - 17:12(Applause)
- Title:
- Decisions for life | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul
- Description:
-
"No choice should have higher priority than our lives, including our own decisions," said Professor. Dr. Talat Kırış, inspiring us to take control of our lives with his own real experiences and the lives of his patients.
He was born in 1961 in Istanbul. He graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine in 1986, completed his compulsory service in Konya State Hospital. In 1992, he became a neurosurgery specialist at Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine and in 1995-96 he did specialization in cerebrovascular diseases and cranial base tumors in Barrow Neurology Institute in the USA. He also served in hospitals such as Sheffield Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Edinburgh West General Hospital, Kartal Emergency Traffic and First Aid Hospital, the German Hospital. He served as the chairman of the Turkish Neurosurgical Society's Vascular Surgery, Neuro Oncologic Surgery Groups and Basic Training Courses and currently serves as a board member of the same association. He is a member of the Research Commission of the Federation of European Neurosurgical Societies. Since 2012, he is the Head of Neurosurgery Department at Florence Nightingale Hospitals. He is the editor of two international books published in English and close to 100 scientific articles in national and international sources. Talat Kırış is one of the world's leading professors in neurosurgery.
Besides his medical articles, he has published stories and essays. He is an amateur sailor and columnist at Yacht Turkey Magazine.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
- Video Language:
- Turkish
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:13
Peter van de Ven approved English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven accepted English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Hayatınızın Kararı | Talat Kırış | TEDxIstanbul |