What a bike ride can teach you
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0:00 - 0:04Mountain biking in Israel
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0:04 - 0:06is something that I do with great passion
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0:06 - 0:09and commitment.
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0:09 - 0:11And when I'm on my bike,
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0:11 - 0:13I feel that I connect
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0:13 - 0:16with the profound beauty of Israel,
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0:16 - 0:18and I feel that I'm united
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0:18 - 0:22with this country's history
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0:22 - 0:24and biblical law.
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0:24 - 0:26And also, for me,
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0:26 - 0:28biking is a matter of empowerment.
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0:28 - 0:30When I reach the summit
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0:30 - 0:32of a steep mountain in the middle of nowhere,
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0:32 - 0:34I feel young,
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0:34 - 0:37invincible, eternal.
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0:37 - 0:40It's as if I'm connecting with some legacy
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0:40 - 0:42or with some energy
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0:42 - 0:44far greater than myself.
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0:44 - 0:46You can see my fellow riders
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0:46 - 0:48at the end of the picture,
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0:48 - 0:51looking at me with some concern.
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0:51 - 0:53And here is another picture of them.
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0:53 - 0:56Unfortunately, I cannot show their faces,
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0:56 - 0:58neither can I disclose their true names,
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0:58 - 1:00and that's because my fellow riders
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1:00 - 1:02are juvenile inmates,
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1:02 - 1:04offenders
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1:04 - 1:06spending time in a correction facility
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1:06 - 1:09about 20 minutes' ride from here --
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1:09 - 1:11well, like everything in Israel.
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1:13 - 1:16And I've been riding with these kids once a week,
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1:16 - 1:19every Tuesday, rain or shine, for the last four years
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1:19 - 1:22and by now, they've become a very big part of my life.
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1:22 - 1:25This story began four years ago.
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1:25 - 1:27The correction facility where they are locked up
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1:27 - 1:29happens to be right in the middle
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1:29 - 1:31of one of my usual trips,
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1:31 - 1:33and it's surrounded by barbed wires
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1:33 - 1:35and electric gates and armed guards.
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1:35 - 1:37So on one of these rides,
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1:37 - 1:39I talked my way into the compound
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1:39 - 1:42and went to see the warden.
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1:42 - 1:44I told the warden
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1:44 - 1:47that I wanted to start a mountain biking club in this place
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1:47 - 1:49and that basically I wanted to take the kids
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1:49 - 1:52from here to there.
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1:52 - 1:54And I told him, "Let's find a way
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1:54 - 1:57in which I'll be able to take out 10 kids once a week
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1:57 - 2:00to ride with in the summer in the country."
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2:00 - 2:02And the warden was quite amused,
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2:02 - 2:05and he told me he thought that I was a nut
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2:05 - 2:07and he told me,
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2:07 - 2:10"This place is a correction facility. These guys are serious offenders.
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2:10 - 2:12They are supposed to be locked up.
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2:12 - 2:15They aren't supposed to be out at large."
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2:15 - 2:17And yet, we began to talk about it,
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2:17 - 2:19and one thing led to another.
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2:19 - 2:22And I can't see myself
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2:22 - 2:24going into a state prison in New Jersey
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2:24 - 2:26and making such a proposition,
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2:26 - 2:28but this being Israel,
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2:28 - 2:31the warden somehow made it happen.
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2:31 - 2:34And so two months later,
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2:34 - 2:36we found ourselves "at large" --
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2:36 - 2:38myself,
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2:38 - 2:4110 juvenile inmates
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2:41 - 2:43and a wonderful fellow named Russ,
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2:43 - 2:45who became a very good friend of mine
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2:45 - 2:47and my partner in this project.
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2:47 - 2:50And in the next few weeks, I had the tremendous pleasure
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2:50 - 2:52of introducing these kids
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2:52 - 2:54to the world of total freedom,
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2:54 - 2:57a world consisting of magnificent vistas
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2:57 - 2:59like these --
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2:59 - 3:02everything you see here is obviously in Israel --
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3:02 - 3:04as well as close encounters
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3:04 - 3:06with all sorts of small creatures
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3:06 - 3:08coming in all sorts of sizes,
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3:08 - 3:11colors, shapes, forms
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3:11 - 3:13and so on.
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3:13 - 3:16In spite of all this splendor,
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3:16 - 3:19the beginning was extremely frustrating.
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3:19 - 3:21Every small obstacle,
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3:21 - 3:23every slight uphill,
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3:23 - 3:25would cause these fellows
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3:25 - 3:28to stop in their tracks and give up.
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3:28 - 3:31So we had a lot of this going on.
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3:31 - 3:33I found out that they had a very hard time
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3:33 - 3:35dealing with frustration and difficulties --
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3:35 - 3:37not because they were physically unfit.
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3:37 - 3:40But that's one reason why they ended up where they were.
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3:41 - 3:43And I became increasingly more and more agitated,
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3:43 - 3:45because I was there
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3:45 - 3:47not only to be with them,
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3:47 - 3:49but also to ride and create a team
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3:49 - 3:51and I didn't know what to do.
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3:51 - 3:53Now, let me give you an example.
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3:53 - 3:56We're going downhill in some rocky terrain,
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3:56 - 3:59and the front tire of Alex
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3:59 - 4:01gets caught in one of these crevasses here.
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4:01 - 4:03So he crashes down,
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4:03 - 4:05and he gets slightly injured,
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4:05 - 4:08but this does not prevent him from jumping up
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4:08 - 4:10and then starting to jump up and down on his bike
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4:10 - 4:12and curse violently.
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4:12 - 4:15Then he throws his helmet in the air.
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4:15 - 4:18His backpack goes ballistic in some other direction.
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4:18 - 4:20And then he runs to the nearest tree
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4:20 - 4:23and starts to break branches and throw rocks
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4:23 - 4:26and curse like I've never heard.
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4:26 - 4:29And I'm just standing there,
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4:29 - 4:31watching this scene
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4:31 - 4:33with a complete disbelief,
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4:33 - 4:36not knowing what to do.
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4:36 - 4:38I'm used to algorithms
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4:38 - 4:41and data structures
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4:41 - 4:44and super motivated students,
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4:44 - 4:46and nothing in my background
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4:46 - 4:48prepared me to deal
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4:48 - 4:51with a raging, violent adolescent
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4:51 - 4:53in the middle of nowhere.
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4:53 - 4:55And you have to realize that these incidents
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4:55 - 4:57did not happen in convenient locations.
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4:57 - 5:00They happened in places like this,
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5:00 - 5:02in the Judean Desert,
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5:02 - 5:0520 kilometers away from the nearest road.
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5:05 - 5:07And what you don't see in this picture
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5:07 - 5:10is that somewhere between these riders there,
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5:10 - 5:12there's a teenager sitting on a rock,
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5:12 - 5:14saying, "I'm not moving from here. Forget it.
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5:14 - 5:16I've had it."
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5:16 - 5:18Well, that's a problem
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5:18 - 5:21because one way or another, you have to get this guy moving
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5:21 - 5:24because it's getting dark soon and dangerous.
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5:24 - 5:27It took me several such incidents to figure out what I was supposed to do.
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5:27 - 5:29At the beginning, it was a disaster.
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5:29 - 5:31I tried harsh words and threats
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5:31 - 5:33and they took me nowhere.
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5:33 - 5:35That's what they had all their lives.
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5:35 - 5:38And at some point I found out,
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5:38 - 5:40when a kid like this gets into a fit,
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5:40 - 5:42the best thing that you can possibly do
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5:42 - 5:45is stay as close as possible to this kid,
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5:45 - 5:47which is difficult,
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5:47 - 5:49because what you really want to do is go away.
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5:49 - 5:51But that's what he had all his life,
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5:51 - 5:53people walking away from him.
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5:53 - 5:55So what you have to do is stay close
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5:55 - 5:57and try to reach in
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5:57 - 5:59and pet his shoulder
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5:59 - 6:01or give him a piece of chocolate.
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6:01 - 6:04So I would say, "Alex, I know that it's terribly difficult.
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6:04 - 6:06Why don't you rest for a few minutes
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6:06 - 6:08and then we'll go on."
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6:08 - 6:11"Go away you maniac-psychopath.
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6:11 - 6:14Why would you bring us to this goddamn place?"
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6:15 - 6:18And I would say, "Relax, Alex.
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6:18 - 6:20Here's a piece of chocolate."
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6:20 - 6:22And Alex would go, "Arrrrggg!"
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6:22 - 6:24Because you have to understand
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6:24 - 6:26that on these rides we are constantly hungry --
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6:26 - 6:29and after the rides also.
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6:30 - 6:33And who is this guy, Alex, to begin with?
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6:33 - 6:35He's a 17-year-old.
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6:35 - 6:37When he was eight,
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6:37 - 6:40someone put him on a boat in Odessa
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6:40 - 6:43and sent him, shipped him to Israel
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6:43 - 6:45on his own.
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6:45 - 6:47And he ended up in south Tel Aviv
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6:47 - 6:49and did not have the good luck
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6:49 - 6:51to be picked up by a [unclear]
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6:51 - 6:53and roamed the streets
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6:53 - 6:56and became a prominent gang member.
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6:56 - 6:58And he spent the last 10 years of his life
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6:58 - 7:00in two places only,
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7:00 - 7:03the slums and the state prison,
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7:03 - 7:05where he spent the last two years
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7:05 - 7:08before he ended up sitting on this rock there.
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7:08 - 7:10And so this kid
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7:10 - 7:13was probably abused,
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7:13 - 7:16abandoned, ignored, betrayed
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7:16 - 7:18by almost every adult along the way.
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7:18 - 7:20So, for such a kid,
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7:20 - 7:23when an adult that he learns to respect stays close to him
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7:23 - 7:25and doesn't walk away from him
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7:25 - 7:27in any situation,
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7:27 - 7:30irrespective of how he behaves,
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7:30 - 7:33it's a tremendous healing experience.
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7:33 - 7:36It's an act of unconditional acceptance,
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7:36 - 7:38something that he never had.
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7:38 - 7:40I want to say a few words about vision.
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7:40 - 7:43When I started this program four years ago,
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7:43 - 7:46I had this original plan
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7:46 - 7:48of creating a team
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7:48 - 7:50of winning underdogs.
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7:50 - 7:53I had an image of Lance Armstrong
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7:53 - 7:55in my mind.
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7:55 - 7:58And it took me exactly two months
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7:58 - 8:00of complete frustration
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8:00 - 8:02to realize that this vision
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8:02 - 8:04was misplaced,
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8:04 - 8:06and that there was another vision
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8:06 - 8:08supremely more important
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8:08 - 8:11and more readily available.
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8:11 - 8:14It all of a sudden dawned on me, in this project,
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8:14 - 8:16that the purpose of these rides
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8:16 - 8:18should actually be
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8:18 - 8:20to expose the kids
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8:20 - 8:23to one thing only: love.
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8:23 - 8:25Love to the country, to the uphill
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8:25 - 8:27and the downhill,
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8:27 - 8:30to all the incredible creatures that surround us --
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8:30 - 8:32the animals, the plants,
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8:32 - 8:34the insects --
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8:34 - 8:36love and respect
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8:36 - 8:38to other fellow members in your team,
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8:38 - 8:40in your biking team,
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8:40 - 8:42and most importantly,
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8:42 - 8:44love and respect to yourself,
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8:44 - 8:46which is something
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8:46 - 8:48that they badly miss.
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8:48 - 8:50Together with the kids,
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8:50 - 8:53I also went through a remarkable transformation.
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8:53 - 8:55Now, I come from a cutthroat world
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8:55 - 8:57of science and high technology.
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8:57 - 9:00I used to think that reason and logic
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9:00 - 9:02and relentless drive
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9:02 - 9:04were the only ways to make things happen.
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9:04 - 9:06And before I worked with the kids,
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9:06 - 9:08anything that I did with them,
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9:08 - 9:10or anything that I did with myself,
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9:10 - 9:12was supposed to be perfect,
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9:12 - 9:15ideal, optimal,
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9:15 - 9:19but after working with them for some time,
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9:19 - 9:22I discovered the great virtues of empathy
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9:22 - 9:24and flexibility
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9:24 - 9:26and being able to start with some vision,
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9:26 - 9:29and if the vision doesn't work, well nothing happened.
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9:29 - 9:32All you have to do is play with it, change it a little bit,
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9:32 - 9:35and come up with something that does help, that does work.
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9:35 - 9:37So right now, I feel more
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9:37 - 9:39like these are my principles,
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9:39 - 9:41and if you don't like them,
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9:41 - 9:43I have others.
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9:43 - 9:45(Laughter)
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9:45 - 9:50(Applause)
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9:50 - 9:52And one of these principles
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9:52 - 9:54is focus.
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9:54 - 9:56Before each ride
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9:56 - 9:58we sit together with the kids,
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9:58 - 10:00and we give them one word
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10:00 - 10:02to think about during the ride.
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10:02 - 10:05You have to focus their attention on something
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10:05 - 10:07because so many things happen.
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10:07 - 10:09So these are words like "teamwork"
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10:09 - 10:11or "endurance"
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10:11 - 10:13or even complicated concepts
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10:13 - 10:15like "resource allocation"
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10:15 - 10:17or "perspective," a word that they don't understand.
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10:17 - 10:19You know, perspective
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10:19 - 10:21is one of these critically important
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10:21 - 10:23life-coping strategies
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10:23 - 10:26that mountain biking can really teach you.
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10:26 - 10:28I tell kids
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10:28 - 10:31when they struggle through some uphill
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10:31 - 10:33and feel like they cannot take it anymore,
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10:33 - 10:36it really helps to ignore the immediate obstacles
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10:36 - 10:38and raise your head and look around
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10:38 - 10:40and see how the vista around you grows.
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10:40 - 10:43It literally propels you upwards.
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10:43 - 10:45That's what perspective is all about.
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10:45 - 10:47Or you can also look back in time
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10:47 - 10:49and realize that you've already conquered
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10:49 - 10:52steeper mountains before.
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10:52 - 10:55And that's how they develop self-esteem.
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10:55 - 10:57Now, let me give you an example of how it works.
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10:57 - 11:00You stand with your bike at the beginning of February.
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11:00 - 11:03It's very cold, and you're standing in one of these rainy days,
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11:03 - 11:05and it's drizzling
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11:05 - 11:08and cold and chilly,
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11:08 - 11:11and you're standing in, let's say, Yokneam.
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11:11 - 11:14And you look up at the sky through a hole in the clouds
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11:14 - 11:17you see the monastery at the top of the Muhraka --
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11:17 - 11:19that's where you're supposed to climb now --
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11:19 - 11:22and you say, "There's no way that I could possibly get there."
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11:22 - 11:25And yet, two hours later
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11:25 - 11:28you find yourself standing on the roof of this monastery,
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11:28 - 11:31smeared with mud,
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11:31 - 11:33blood and sweat.
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11:33 - 11:35And you look down at Yokneam;
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11:35 - 11:37everything is so small and tiny.
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11:37 - 11:39And you say, "Hey, Alex. Look at this parking lot where we started.
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11:39 - 11:41It's that big.
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11:41 - 11:43I can't believe that I did it."
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11:43 - 11:45And that's the point
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11:45 - 11:47when you start loving yourself.
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11:48 - 11:50And so we talked about
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11:50 - 11:52these special words that we teach them.
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11:52 - 11:55And at the end of each ride, we sit together
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11:55 - 11:57and share moments
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11:57 - 12:00in which those special words of the day
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12:00 - 12:02popped up and made a difference,
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12:02 - 12:04and these discussions
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12:04 - 12:06can be extremely inspiring.
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12:06 - 12:08In one of them, one of the kids once said,
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12:08 - 12:10"When we were riding on this ridge
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12:10 - 12:12overlooking the Dead Sea --
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12:12 - 12:15and he's talking about this spot here --
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12:15 - 12:17"I was reminded
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12:17 - 12:19of the day when I left my village in Ethiopia
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12:19 - 12:22and went away together with my brother.
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12:22 - 12:24We walked 120 kilometers
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12:24 - 12:26until we reached Sudan.
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12:26 - 12:29This was the first place where we got some water and supplies."
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12:29 - 12:32And he goes on saying, and everyone looks at him like a hero,
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12:32 - 12:34probably for the first time in his life.
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12:34 - 12:37And he says -- because I also have volunteers riding with me,
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12:37 - 12:39adults, who are sitting there
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12:39 - 12:42listening to him --
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12:42 - 12:44and he says, "And this was just the beginning
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12:44 - 12:46of our ordeal
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12:46 - 12:48until we ended up in Israel.
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12:48 - 12:50And only now," he says,
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12:50 - 12:52"I'm beginning to understand where I am,
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12:52 - 12:54and I actually like it."
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12:54 - 12:56Now I remember, when he said it,
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12:56 - 12:58I felt goosebumps on my body,
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12:58 - 13:01because he said it overlooking the Moab Mountains here in the background.
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13:01 - 13:03That's where Joshua descended
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13:03 - 13:05and crossed the Jordan
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13:05 - 13:08and led the people of Israel into the land of Canaan
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13:08 - 13:103,000 years ago
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13:10 - 13:12in this final leg
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13:12 - 13:15of the journey from Africa.
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13:15 - 13:17And so, perspective
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13:17 - 13:19and context and history
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13:19 - 13:21play key roles
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13:21 - 13:23in the way I plan my rides
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13:23 - 13:25with the kids.
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13:25 - 13:27We visit Kibbutzim
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13:27 - 13:30that were established by Holocaust survivors.
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13:30 - 13:33We explore ruins
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13:33 - 13:36of Palestinian villages,
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13:36 - 13:39and we discuss how they became ruins.
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13:39 - 13:42And we go through numerous remnants
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13:42 - 13:44of Jewish settlements, Nabatic settlements,
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13:44 - 13:46Canaanite settlements --
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13:46 - 13:48three-, four, five-thousand years old.
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13:48 - 13:50And through this tapestry,
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13:50 - 13:53which is the history of this country,
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13:53 - 13:55the kids acquire
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13:55 - 13:57what is probably the most important
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13:57 - 13:59value in education,
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13:59 - 14:03and that is the understanding that life is complex,
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14:03 - 14:06and there's no black and white.
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14:06 - 14:08And by appreciating complexity,
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14:08 - 14:10they become more tolerant,
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14:10 - 14:13and tolerance leads to hope.
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14:14 - 14:16I ride with these kids once a week,
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14:16 - 14:18every Tuesday.
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14:18 - 14:21Here's a picture I took last Tuesday -- less than a week ago --
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14:21 - 14:23and I ride with them tomorrow also.
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14:23 - 14:26In every one of these rides
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14:26 - 14:29I always end up standing in one of these incredible locations,
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14:29 - 14:32taking in this incredible landscape around me,
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14:32 - 14:34and I feel blessed and fortunate
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14:34 - 14:36that I'm alive,
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14:36 - 14:38and that I sense every fiber
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14:38 - 14:40in my aching body.
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14:40 - 14:42And I feel blessed and fortunate
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14:42 - 14:44that 15 years ago
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14:44 - 14:46I had the courage to resign
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14:46 - 14:48my tenured position at NYU
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14:48 - 14:50and return to my home country
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14:50 - 14:52where I can do these incredible rides
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14:52 - 14:54with this group of troubled kids
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14:54 - 14:56coming from Ethiopia
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14:56 - 14:59and Morocco and Russia.
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14:59 - 15:01And I feel blessed and fortunate
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15:01 - 15:03that every week, every Tuesday --
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15:03 - 15:06and actually every Friday also --
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15:06 - 15:09I can once again celebrate
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15:09 - 15:12in the marrow of my bones
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15:12 - 15:15the very essence of living in Israel on the edge.
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15:15 - 15:17Thank you.
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15:17 - 15:24(Applause)
- Title:
- What a bike ride can teach you
- Speaker:
- Shimon Schocken
- Description:
-
Computer science professor Shimon Schocken is also an avid mountain biker. To share the life lessons he learned while riding, he began an outdoor program with Israel's juvenile inmates and was touched by both their intense difficulties and profound successes.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:26
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