Mountain biking in Israel is something that I do with great passion and commitment. And when I'm on my bike, I feel that I connect with the profound beauty of Israel, and I feel that I'm united with this country's history and biblical law. And also, for me, biking is a matter of empowerment. When I reach the summit of a steep mountain in the middle of nowhere, I feel young, invincible, eternal. It's as if I'm connecting with some legacy or with some energy far greater than myself. You can see my fellow riders at the end of the picture, looking at me with some concern. And here is another picture of them. Unfortunately, I cannot show their faces, neither can I disclose their true names, and that's because my fellow riders are juvenile inmates, offenders spending time in a correction facility about 20 minutes' ride from here -- well, like everything in Israel. And I've been riding with these kids once a week, every Tuesday, rain or shine, for the last four years and by now, they've become a very big part of my life.
Vrlo strastveno i posvećeno se bavim vožnjom mauntin bajka u Izraelu. Kada sam na biciklu, osećam da se povezujem sa dubokom lepotom Izraela, osećam da sam sjedinjen sa istorijom ove zemlje i njenim biblijskim zakonima. Za mene je biciklizam takođe stvar osnaživanja. Kada stignem na vrh neke strme planine usred ničega osećam se mladim, nepobedivim, večnim. Kao da se povezujem sa nekim nasleđem ili nekakvom energijom mnogo većom od sebe. Na kraju ove slike vidite moje kolege bicikliste koji me gledaju nekako zabrinuto. Evo ih na još jednoj slici. Na žalost, ne mogu da pokažem njihova lica niti da otkrijem njihova prava imena, a to je zato što su oni maloletni zatvorenici, prestupnici, koji provode vreme u popravnoj ustanovi koja se nalazi na 20 minuta vožnje odavde. Pa, kao i sve u Izraelu. Poslednje četiri godine vozim sa ovim klincima, jednom nedeljno, svakog utorka, po kiši i suncu. Već su postali veliki deo mog života.
This story began four years ago. The correction facility where they are locked up happens to be right in the middle of one of my usual trips, and it's surrounded by barbed wires and electric gates and armed guards. So on one of these rides, I talked my way into the compound and went to see the warden. I told the warden that I wanted to start a mountain biking club in this place and that basically I wanted to take the kids from here to there. And I told him, "Let's find a way in which I'll be able to take out 10 kids once a week to ride with in the summer in the country." And the warden was quite amused, and he told me he thought that I was a nut and he told me, "This place is a correction facility. These guys are serious offenders. They are supposed to be locked up. They aren't supposed to be out at large." And yet, we began to talk about it, and one thing led to another. And I can't see myself going into a state prison in New Jersey and making such a proposition, but this being Israel, the warden somehow made it happen. And so two months later, we found ourselves "at large" -- myself, 10 juvenile inmates and a wonderful fellow named Russ, who became a very good friend of mine and my partner in this project.
Priča je počela pre četiri godine. Ta ustanova u kojoj su zatvoreni se baš nalazi na sredini jedne od mojih uobičajenih ruta i okružena je bodljikavom žicom i električnim kapijama i naoružanim stražarima. Tokom jedne vožnje uspeo sam da ih ubedim da me puste i otišao sam da pričam sa upravnikom. Rekao sam mu da želim da pokrenem biciklistički klub na tom mestu i da zapravo želim da vodim te klince odavde dovde. I rekao sam mu: "Hajde da nađemo način da desetoro ovih klinaca jednom nedeljno vodim sa mnom na vožnje leti u prirodi." Upravniku je to bilo zabavno, rekao mi je da misli da sam ludak. I rekao mi je: "Ovo mesto je popravna ustanova. Ovi momci su ozbiljni prestupnici. Trebalo bi da su zaključani. Ne bi trebalo da budu na otvorenom." Ipak smo počeli da razgovaramo o tome, jedna stvar je vodila do sledeće. Ne mogu da zamislim sebe kako odlazim u državni zatvor u Nju Džerziju i predlažem nešto ovakvo, ali pošto je ovo Izrael, upravnik je omogućio da se ovo desi. I dva meseca kasnije, našli smo se na otvorenom - ja, deset maloletnih prestupnika i predivan momak po imenu Ras koji mi je postao veoma dobar prijatelj i partner u ovom projektu.
And in the next few weeks, I had the tremendous pleasure of introducing these kids to the world of total freedom, a world consisting of magnificent vistas like these -- everything you see here is obviously in Israel -- as well as close encounters with all sorts of small creatures coming in all sorts of sizes, colors, shapes, forms and so on. In spite of all this splendor, the beginning was extremely frustrating. Every small obstacle, every slight uphill, would cause these fellows to stop in their tracks and give up. So we had a lot of this going on. I found out that they had a very hard time dealing with frustration and difficulties -- not because they were physically unfit. But that's one reason why they ended up where they were. And I became increasingly more and more agitated, because I was there not only to be with them, but also to ride and create a team and I didn't know what to do.
Sledećih nekoliko nedelja imao sam neverovatno zadovoljstvo da ovim klincima pokažem svet potpune slobode, svet sačinjen od predivnih panorama kao što su ove - sve što vidite je, očigledno, u Izraelu - kao i sa bliskim susretima sa svakakvim malim stvorenjima svih veličina, boja, oblika, i tako dalje. Uprkos svim ovim divotama, početak je bio veoma frustrirajuć. Svaka mala prepreka, svaka lagana uzbrdica, bile su razlog da ovi momci zastanu na putu i odustanu. Mnogo ovoga se događalo. Otkrio sam da im je veoma teško da se nose sa frustracijom i teškoćama - ne zato što nisu fizički u kondiciji. Ali to je jedan razlog zašto su završili tu gde jesu. Postajao sam sve više iznerviran jer sam bio tamo, ne samo da bih bio s njima, nego da bih vozio i stvarao tim. I nisam znao šta da radim.
Now, let me give you an example. We're going downhill in some rocky terrain, and the front tire of Alex gets caught in one of these crevasses here. So he crashes down, and he gets slightly injured, but this does not prevent him from jumping up and then starting to jump up and down on his bike and curse violently. Then he throws his helmet in the air. His backpack goes ballistic in some other direction. And then he runs to the nearest tree and starts to break branches and throw rocks and curse like I've never heard. And I'm just standing there, watching this scene with a complete disbelief, not knowing what to do. I'm used to algorithms and data structures and super motivated students, and nothing in my background prepared me to deal with a raging, violent adolescent in the middle of nowhere. And you have to realize that these incidents did not happen in convenient locations. They happened in places like this, in the Judean Desert, 20 kilometers away from the nearest road. And what you don't see in this picture is that somewhere between these riders there, there's a teenager sitting on a rock, saying, "I'm not moving from here. Forget it. I've had it." Well, that's a problem because one way or another, you have to get this guy moving because it's getting dark soon and dangerous.
Dozvolite da vam dam jedan primer. Spuštamo se niz brdo na brdovitom terenu i Aleksova prednja guma se zaglavi u jednoj od ovih pukotina. On padne i malo se povredi, ali to ga ne sprečava da skoči i počne da skače po svom biciklu i da nasilno psuje. Onda zavitla kacigu uvis. Njegov ranac ludački odleti na neku drugu stranu. A onda odleti do najbližeg drveta i počne da lomi grane i baca kamenje i psuje kako nisam nikad čuo. A ja samo stojim tamo posmatrajući tu scenu u potpunoj neverici, ne znajući šta da radim. Navikao sam na algoritme i strukture podataka i super motivisane studente i ništa u mom životu me nije pripremilo da se izborim sa pobesnelim, nasilnim adolescentom usred ničega. Morate shvatiti da se ovi incidenti nisu događali na pogodnim mestima. Događali su se na mestima poput ovog, u Judejskoj pustinji, 20km udaljenoj od najbližeg puta. Ono što na ovoj slici ne vidite je da negde između ovih biciklista ovde sedi tinejdžer na nekom kamenu i govori: "Ne idem dalje. Zaboravi. Dosta mi je." Pa, to je problem, jer kako god okreneš, on mora da nastavi jer pada mrak i postaje opasno.
It took me several such incidents to figure out what I was supposed to do. At the beginning, it was a disaster. I tried harsh words and threats and they took me nowhere. That's what they had all their lives. And at some point I found out, when a kid like this gets into a fit, the best thing that you can possibly do is stay as close as possible to this kid, which is difficult, because what you really want to do is go away. But that's what he had all his life, people walking away from him. So what you have to do is stay close and try to reach in and pet his shoulder or give him a piece of chocolate. So I would say, "Alex, I know that it's terribly difficult. Why don't you rest for a few minutes and then we'll go on." "Go away you maniac-psychopath. Why would you bring us to this goddamn place?" And I would say, "Relax, Alex. Here's a piece of chocolate." And Alex would go, "Arrrrggg!" Because you have to understand that on these rides we are constantly hungry -- and after the rides also.
Bilo je potrebno nekoliko ovakvih incidenata da bih shvatio šta da radim. U početku je to bila propast. Pokušao sam oštrim rečima i pretnjama i to me nigde nije odvelo. To su oni imali tokom celog života. U jednom trenutku sam shvatio da kad se ovakav klinac razbesni, najbolje što možete uraditi je da ostanete što je bliže moguće, što je teško jer ono što stvarno želite je da odete odatle. Ali to mu se dešavalo celog života, ljudi su odlazili od njega. Dakle morate ostati blizu i pokušati da doprete do njega i potapšati ga po ramenu ili mu dati čokoladu. Rekao bih: "Aleks, znam da je užasno teško. Zašto se malo ne odmoriš, pa ćemo nastaviti." "Skloni se, manijače, psihopato. Zašto si nas doveo na ovo prokleto mesto?" A ja bih rekao: "Polako, Aleks. Uzmi malo čokolade." A on bi rekao "Aarrrgrg!" Morate da razumete, tokom vožnji smo stalno gladni - kao i posle vožnje.
And who is this guy, Alex, to begin with? He's a 17-year-old. When he was eight, someone put him on a boat in Odessa and sent him, shipped him to Israel on his own. And he ended up in south Tel Aviv and did not have the good luck to be picked up by a [unclear] and roamed the streets and became a prominent gang member. And he spent the last 10 years of his life in two places only, the slums and the state prison, where he spent the last two years before he ended up sitting on this rock there. And so this kid was probably abused, abandoned, ignored, betrayed by almost every adult along the way. So, for such a kid, when an adult that he learns to respect stays close to him and doesn't walk away from him in any situation, irrespective of how he behaves, it's a tremendous healing experience. It's an act of unconditional acceptance, something that he never had.
Za početak, ko je taj Aleks? On je jedan sedamnaestogodišnjak. Kada mu je bilo osam, neko ga je stavio na brod u Odesi i poslao u Izrael, samog. Završio je u južnom Tel Avivu i nije imao te sreće da ga neko pokupi, pa je lutao ulicama i postao je zapaženi član bande. Poslednjih deset godina je proveo na samo dva mesta - sirotinjskim četvrtima i državnom zatvoru, u kom je proveo poslednje dve godine pre nego što je završio sedeći na ovom kamenu. Dakle njega je verovatno zlostavljala, napustila, ignorisala, izdala, skoro svaka odrasla osoba koju je sreo. Dakle za takvog klinca, situacija u kojoj osoba u koju je stekao poverenje ostane s njim i ne napusti ga u bilo kakvoj situaciji, nezavisno od toga kako se ponaša, izuzetno je isceljujuće iskustvo. To je čin bezuslovnog prihvatanja, nešto što nikad nije imao.
I want to say a few words about vision. When I started this program four years ago, I had this original plan of creating a team of winning underdogs. I had an image of Lance Armstrong in my mind. And it took me exactly two months of complete frustration to realize that this vision was misplaced, and that there was another vision supremely more important and more readily available. It all of a sudden dawned on me, in this project, that the purpose of these rides should actually be to expose the kids to one thing only: love. Love to the country, to the uphill and the downhill, to all the incredible creatures that surround us -- the animals, the plants, the insects -- love and respect to other fellow members in your team, in your biking team, and most importantly, love and respect to yourself, which is something that they badly miss.
Želim da kažem nekoliko reči o viziji. Kada sam započeo ovo pre četiri godine, prvobitni plan je bio da stvorim tim gubitnika koji pobeđuju. U glavi sam imao sliku Lensa Armstronga. Bilo je potrebno tačno dva meseca potpune frustracije da shvatim da ova vizija nije na mestu i da postoji druga vizija koja je mnogo važnija i izuzetno dostupnija. Odjednom mi je tokom projekta sinulo da svrha ovih vožnji u stvari treba da bude da ove klince izložim samo jednoj stvari: ljubavi, ljubavi prema prirodi, prema uzbrdici, prema nizbrdici, prema svim izvanrednim bićima koja su oko nas - životinjama, biljkama, insektima, ljubavi i poštovanju prema ostalim članovima tvog tima, svog biciklističkog tima, i što je najvažnije, ljubavi i poštovanju prema sebi, što je nešto što im je veoma nedostajalo.
Together with the kids, I also went through a remarkable transformation. Now, I come from a cutthroat world of science and high technology. I used to think that reason and logic and relentless drive were the only ways to make things happen. And before I worked with the kids, anything that I did with them, or anything that I did with myself, was supposed to be perfect, ideal, optimal, but after working with them for some time, I discovered the great virtues of empathy and flexibility and being able to start with some vision, and if the vision doesn't work, well nothing happened. All you have to do is play with it, change it a little bit, and come up with something that does help, that does work. So right now, I feel more like these are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others.
Zajedno sa klincima i ja sam prošao kroz izuzetan preobražaj. Ja dolazim iz surovog sveta nauke i visoke tehnologije. Nekada sam mislio da su razum i logika i nemilosrdan poriv jedini načini da se nešto ostvari. I pre nego što sam s njima radio, sve što bih radio s njima ili što bih radio sa sobom, trebalo je da bude savršeno, idealno, optimalno, ali posle nekog vremena rada s njima, otkrio sam izuzetnu vrlinu empatije i fleksibilnosti i sposobnosti da počnem sa nekom vizijom, pa ako vizija ne uspe, ništa strašno. Sve što treba je da se igrate, malo je menjate, i doći ćete do nečega što pomaže, što radi. Trenutno, više osećam da su ovo moji principi i ako vam se ne sviđaju, imam i druge.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
And one of these principles is focus. Before each ride we sit together with the kids, and we give them one word to think about during the ride. You have to focus their attention on something because so many things happen. So these are words like "teamwork" or "endurance" or even complicated concepts like "resource allocation" or "perspective," a word that they don't understand. You know, perspective is one of these critically important life-coping strategies that mountain biking can really teach you. I tell kids when they struggle through some uphill and feel like they cannot take it anymore, it really helps to ignore the immediate obstacles and raise your head and look around and see how the vista around you grows. It literally propels you upwards. That's what perspective is all about. Or you can also look back in time and realize that you've already conquered steeper mountains before. And that's how they develop self-esteem.
Jedan od ovih principa je usredsređenost. Pre svake vožnje sedimo zajedno s klincima i damo im jednu reč da o njoj razmišljaju tokom vožnje. Morate im usredsrediti pažnju na nešto jer se mnogo toga dešava. To su reči kao timski rad, izdržljivost ili komplikovani koncepti kao preusmeravanje resursa ili perspektiva, reč koju ne razumeju. Znate, perspektiva je jedna od izuzetno važnih strategija u životu, a ove vožnje vas tome mogu naučiti. Govorim klincima da, kada se muče na nekoj uzbrdici i osećaju da ne mogu više da izdrže, veoma pomaže da ignorišete trenutne prepreke i podignete glavu i pogledate okolo i vidite kako se oko vas razvija panorama. To vas bukvalno pogura napred. O tome je zapravo perspektiva. Ili možete da se vratite kroz vreme i shvatite da ste već ranije osvojili i srtmije planine. Tako oni razvijaju samopouzdanje.
Now, let me give you an example of how it works. You stand with your bike at the beginning of February. It's very cold, and you're standing in one of these rainy days, and it's drizzling and cold and chilly, and you're standing in, let's say, Yokneam. And you look up at the sky through a hole in the clouds you see the monastery at the top of the Muhraka -- that's where you're supposed to climb now -- and you say, "There's no way that I could possibly get there." And yet, two hours later you find yourself standing on the roof of this monastery, smeared with mud, blood and sweat. And you look down at Yokneam; everything is so small and tiny. And you say, "Hey, Alex. Look at this parking lot where we started. It's that big. I can't believe that I did it." And that's the point when you start loving yourself.
Daću vam primer kako to funkcioniše. Početkom februara stojite sa biciklom. Veoma je hladno i stojite usred kišnog dana i pada kiša, hladno je i jeza vas prolazi i stojite recimo u Joknamu. Podignete pogled ka nebu i kroz oblake vidite manastir na vrhu Muhrake - tu bi trebalo da se popnete - i kažete: "Nema šanse da stignem tamo." A ipak, dva sata kasnije, vi stojite na krovu ovog manastira umazani blatom, krvlju i znojem. I gledate dole ka Joknamu, sve je tako malo i sićušno. I kažete: "Hej, Aleks. Pogledaj parking sa kog smo krenuli. Ovolicki je. Ne verujem da sam uspeo." I u tome je suština kad počnete da volite sebe.
And so we talked about these special words that we teach them. And at the end of each ride, we sit together and share moments in which those special words of the day popped up and made a difference, and these discussions can be extremely inspiring. In one of them, one of the kids once said, "When we were riding on this ridge overlooking the Dead Sea -- and he's talking about this spot here -- "I was reminded of the day when I left my village in Ethiopia and went away together with my brother. We walked 120 kilometers until we reached Sudan. This was the first place where we got some water and supplies." And he goes on saying, and everyone looks at him like a hero, probably for the first time in his life. And he says -- because I also have volunteers riding with me, adults, who are sitting there listening to him -- and he says, "And this was just the beginning of our ordeal until we ended up in Israel. And only now," he says, "I'm beginning to understand where I am, and I actually like it." Now I remember, when he said it, I felt goosebumps on my body, because he said it overlooking the Moab Mountains here in the background. That's where Joshua descended and crossed the Jordan and led the people of Israel into the land of Canaan 3,000 years ago in this final leg of the journey from Africa.
Razgovarali smo o posebnim rečima kojima ih učimo. I na kraju svake vožnje, sednemo zajedno i delimo trenutke u kojima su se te reči tog dana javljale i imale nekog uticaja. Ti razgovori mogu biti veoma inspirativni. U jednom od njih, jedan dečak je rekao: "Kada smo vozili onom ivicom koja gleda na Mrtvo More - govori o ovom ovde mestu - prisetio sam se onog dana kad sam napustio svoje selo u Etiopiji i otišao zajedno sa svojim bratom. Hodali smo 120 kilometara dok nismo stigli do Sudana. Ovo je bilo prvo mesto gde smo dobili malo vode i namirnica." I nastavlja da priča, a svi ga gledaju kao heroja, možda po prvi put u njegovom životu. A on kaže - imam i volontere koji sa mnom voze, odrasle, koji sede tamo i slušaju ga. A on kaže: "A to je bio samo početak naših patnji dok nismo završili u Izraelu. I tek sada", nastavlja on, "počinjem da shvatam gde se nalazim i stvarno mi se sviđa." Zapamtite, kad je on to rekao, ja sam se ceo naježio, jer je to rekao gledajući planinu Moab u pozadini ovde. Tu se Jehova spustio i prešao Jordan i poveo ljude Izraela u zemlju Kanaana pre 3000 godina, u poslednjoj etapi puta iz Afrike.
And so, perspective and context and history play key roles in the way I plan my rides with the kids. We visit Kibbutzim that were established by Holocaust survivors. We explore ruins of Palestinian villages, and we discuss how they became ruins. And we go through numerous remnants of Jewish settlements, Nabatic settlements, Canaanite settlements -- three-, four, five-thousand years old. And through this tapestry, which is the history of this country, the kids acquire what is probably the most important value in education, and that is the understanding that life is complex, and there's no black and white. And by appreciating complexity, they become more tolerant, and tolerance leads to hope.
Dakle perspektiva i kontekst i istorija igraju ključne uloge u mom načinu planiranja vožnji sa ovom decom. Posećujemo Kibuce koje su napravili oni koji su preživeli Holokaust. Istražujemo ruševine palestinskih sela i pričamo o tome kako su postale ruševine. Prolazimo kroz brojne ostatke jevrejskih naseobina, nabatskih naseobina, kanaanksih naseobina - starih tri, četiri, pet hiljada godina. I kroz ovu tapiseriju, koja je istorija ove zemlje, deca stiču ono što je možda najvažnija vrednost u obrazovanju, a to je shvatanje da je život složen i ne postoji crno i belo. I ceneći kompleksnost postaju tolerantniji, a tolerancija vodi nadi.
I ride with these kids once a week, every Tuesday. Here's a picture I took last Tuesday -- less than a week ago -- and I ride with them tomorrow also. In every one of these rides I always end up standing in one of these incredible locations, taking in this incredible landscape around me, and I feel blessed and fortunate that I'm alive, and that I sense every fiber in my aching body. And I feel blessed and fortunate that 15 years ago I had the courage to resign my tenured position at NYU and return to my home country where I can do these incredible rides with this group of troubled kids coming from Ethiopia and Morocco and Russia. And I feel blessed and fortunate that every week, every Tuesday -- and actually every Friday also -- I can once again celebrate in the marrow of my bones the very essence of living in Israel on the edge.
Vozim sa ovom decom jednom nedeljno, svakog utorka. Evo slike od prošlog utorka - pre manje od nedelju dana - i voziću sa njima i sutra. Prilikom svake od vožnji uvek na kraju završim stojeći na nekom od ovih izuzetnih mesta, upijajući ovaj predivan pejzaž oko sebe. I osećam se blagosloveno i srećno što sam živ, i da osećam svaki delić mog bolnog tela. Osećam se blagosloveno i srećno što sam pre 15 godina imao hrabrosti da napustim svoju poziciju na njujorškom univerzitetu i da se vratim u svoju domovinu gde mogu da idem na ove neverovatne vožnje sa ovom grupom dece u nevolji koja dolaze iz Etiopije i Maroka i Rusije. I osećam se blagosloveno i srećno da svake nedelje, svakog utorka i ustvari i svakog petka, iznova slavim, u srži svojih kostiju, samu suštinu života na ivici u Izraelu.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)