Helping all people reach their full potential | Zhivan Khaleeli | TEDxSHC Youth
[Music] tell your story change the conversation organized by students tedex youth at shc I'm walking to the bus from soccer practice my backpack feeling like 1,000 lbs when this 10-year-old kid comes running towards me arms flailing yelling my name you know I just finished a long practice my coach was in a bad mood for no reason and my cleats were broken I was using some terrible Replacements and this kid just comes out of nowhere he's showing me these new gloves that he's bought and he's asking me you know when his new football coach is coming to teach him and all I could do was try to keep up according to the World Health Organization nearly 90% of adolescents live in low or middle- inome countries of which only 3% 3% have the opportunity for higher education but let's be honest for the rest it's almost impossible to break that cycle of poverty I mean in what worlds is a kid who doesn't even know what chemistry is going to become the next great scientist what if within that 97% the world had the person who could go cure cancer or the person with the skill to surpass MJ actually before I go on have any of you read The World is Flat by Thomas fredman and let me get a show of hands all right I see a couple of you um for those who haven't he contends that globalization in the 21st century has well flattened the Earth in the sense that a large portion of the world outside of the West has input on the world stage what I'm about to say though argues the exact opposite that there is a next level of flatness we can achieve as a global Community you know I'll start off with the story one that takes place in Pakistan for some background while my parents were fortunate enough to be in that small group that did get a a chance at College Pakistan is one of those one of those countries that has a 40% poverty rate while visiting over the winter as a 10-year old boy I had one of the most transformative experiences of my life my grandma took me to show how many kids my age learn in Pakistan so we went driving through the crowded markets in smallfield City till we reached an alley you know one of those empty plots of land filled the trash cats and this broken down School Bus you know so we walked through the plot into the bus to find around 20 kids dressed in Humble clothes some without shoes listening carefully to a teacher while I was speechless as I handed the teacher the money my that my grandma had given me I was full of questions on the ride back home after asking my grandma she told me that many of these kids had parents that worked as servants in various homes across the city from sunup to sundown that some lived miles away and walked to and from the makeshift school every single single day that many didn't have any form of covering to break the 100 degree heat that they want the reality for those students though it was all worth it they had the opportunity to break that cycle of poverty they had the opportunity to reach Heights their parents wouldn't wouldn't have even dreamt of that was their motivation most importantly though as I realized later was all it took to give these kids a chance was one selfless person with no more than a high school education himself now let's go back remember that kid I was talking about you know the one that ran up to me arms flailing after practice that one day wanting to show me the new gloves you know it took me a second but then I recognized him then it hit me that was Aiden Aiden from the after school program for underprivileged youth that I volunteer at a couple days a week you know he and I had talked one time about his love for football and you know I guess IID mentioned that I could maybe even arrange you know one of my friends from the team just to come and Coach him but I figured he'd just forget in a couple days you know to be honest I was just throwing out the idea but for him that coach represented a path to his dreams and he was willing to invest in gloves that's the impact that this opportunity had on him but it's not just Aiden let me give you another example Kylie one of my classmates spent the end of last year working with Manny this fifth grader from the same from the same after school program with an unrivaled curiosity for philosophy I asked her about it one time and she responded by telling me about his deep questions you know from the role that large corporations play on climate change to the meaning of life itself all this coming from a 10-year-old but what struck her the most was his eagerness to tell her all of this cuz here's the thing he'd never had any friends that cared as much as he did about these topics and you know his mom was too busy working as a house cleaner every day to act as an outlet the reality is that kids like Manny are everywhere whose potential transcends their environment all it took for Manny to realized that there is a path for his passion that there's a place for him at a college as a philosophy or a history major was talking to Kylie someone only 5 years older than him whom he could have a casual conversation in Spanish with the stories I've just told you are part of a mentorship program a couple of my peers and I have created to support underprivileged youth in San Francisco and help them achieve their Kismet or destiny after being exposed to the aens and the manes of the world we did what we could as teenagers to help these kids realize the heights they can achieve whether it be in football soccer or literature if there's one thing that you can leave with after coming here today and spending your Sunday listening to the high schoolers speaking here today is that teenagers do have power that they have an effect to change kids' lives but but the effect to change someone else's life isn't just restricted to teenagers or people that can go fly out to Pakistan y my mom has this friend let's call her Kate and Kate had this nanny that had recently immigrated to America and the nanny was trying to help her High school-aged daughter go get a babysitting job but that's when Kate stepped in uh reaching out to one of her old firms for an internship for the daughter after the internship that summer the daughter went on to a university then receiving better opportunities than her peers because of her experience in a professional role rather rather than as a nanny she then continued on and is now in a PhD program today all it took to potentially alter the course of her entire life was one phone call all it took to give Manny a path where his passion was one person to talk to all it took for Aiden to invest in gloves was for one high school student to invest in him all it took for all those kids in Pakistan to have a shot was one teacher just one in a moment I'm going to ask you to close your eyes and engage in a meditative activity thinking of someone in your life who has potential that they haven't even discovered yet they don't have to be the next Malala or the next Einstein just someone that can grow up to be a positive influence on their Community they can be your child your friend your coworker anyone all right I'll give you guys a second let's think of someone real quick all right now can each and every one of you make sure that your eyes are closed all right let's get those eyes closed perfect get their face in your mind now I want you to visualize that person as if they are right in front of you okay now what I want you to do I want you to visualize who they could be I want you to visualize the athlete that you're seeing in their professional uniform the CEO in their suit walking into the boardroom The Graduate in their C and gown first in their family to go to college as I continue to talk keep your eyes closed and keep their face in your mind I want you to really believe they can become the person you are envisioning for them right now I want you to know that you and your actions however small they may seem do have a positive and lasting impact on them I want you to know that you every single one of you here today has the possibility to be their Catalyst for change to the person you are thinking of right now keep being that that outlet for their curiosity keep lending out that helping hands keep instilling in them the idea that they can change the world for the better because when they do it'll be thanks to your support open your eyes now and go open theirs as well thank you [Applause]