WEBVTT 00:00:00.809 --> 00:00:03.174 Well, the subject of difficult negotiation 00:00:03.198 --> 00:00:06.976 reminds me of one of my favorite stories from the Middle East, 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.754 of a man who left to his three sons, 17 camels. 00:00:10.778 --> 00:00:12.976 To the first son, he left half the camels; 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.390 to the second son, he left a third of the camels; 00:00:15.414 --> 00:00:18.009 and to the youngest son, he left a ninth of the camels. 00:00:18.033 --> 00:00:21.847 The three sons got into a negotiation -- 17 doesn't divide by two. 00:00:21.871 --> 00:00:23.609 It doesn't divide by three. 00:00:23.633 --> 00:00:25.172 It doesn't divide by nine. 00:00:25.196 --> 00:00:27.442 Brotherly tempers started to get strained. 00:00:27.466 --> 00:00:28.745 Finally, in desperation, 00:00:28.769 --> 00:00:32.430 they went and they consulted a wise old woman. 00:00:32.454 --> 00:00:35.429 The wise old woman thought about their problem for a long time, 00:00:35.453 --> 00:00:38.957 and finally she came back and said, "Well, I don't know if I can help you, 00:00:38.981 --> 00:00:41.358 but at least, if you want, you can have my camel." 00:00:41.382 --> 00:00:42.850 So then, they had 18 camels. 00:00:42.874 --> 00:00:45.732 The first son took his half -- half of 18 is nine. 00:00:45.756 --> 00:00:48.450 The second son took his third -- a third of 18 is six. 00:00:48.474 --> 00:00:51.976 The youngest son took his ninth -- a ninth of 18 is two. 00:00:52.370 --> 00:00:54.559 You get 17. 00:00:54.583 --> 00:00:56.393 They had one camel left over. 00:00:56.417 --> 00:00:58.345 They gave it back to the wise old woman. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:58.369 --> 00:00:59.976 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.239 Now, if you think about that story for a moment, 00:01:02.263 --> 00:01:05.834 I think it resembles a lot of the difficult negotiations 00:01:05.858 --> 00:01:07.072 we get involved in. 00:01:07.096 --> 00:01:09.572 They start off like 17 camels, no way to resolve it. 00:01:09.596 --> 00:01:11.032 Somehow, what we need to do 00:01:11.056 --> 00:01:14.737 is step back from those situations, like that wise old woman, 00:01:14.761 --> 00:01:16.793 look at the situation through fresh eyes 00:01:16.817 --> 00:01:18.754 and come up with an 18th camel. 00:01:19.873 --> 00:01:22.639 Finding that 18th camel in the world's conflicts 00:01:22.663 --> 00:01:24.821 has been my life passion. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:24.845 --> 00:01:27.976 I basically see humanity a bit like those three brothers. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.590 We're all one family. 00:01:30.145 --> 00:01:32.094 We know that scientifically, 00:01:32.118 --> 00:01:34.064 thanks to the communications revolution, 00:01:34.088 --> 00:01:37.656 all the tribes on the planet -- all 15,000 tribes -- 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:39.291 are in touch with each other. 00:01:40.283 --> 00:01:42.676 And it's a big family reunion. 00:01:42.700 --> 00:01:44.382 And yet, like many family reunions, 00:01:44.406 --> 00:01:46.629 it's not all peace and light. 00:01:46.653 --> 00:01:48.554 There's a lot of conflict, 00:01:48.578 --> 00:01:51.976 and the question is: How do we deal with our differences? 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.096 How do we deal with our deepest differences, 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:56.829 given the human propensity for conflict 00:01:56.853 --> 00:02:01.380 and the human genius at devising weapons of enormous destruction? 00:02:01.404 --> 00:02:03.153 That's the question. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:03.177 --> 00:02:07.976 As I've spent the last better part of three decades, almost four, 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:10.055 traveling the world, 00:02:10.079 --> 00:02:13.448 trying to work, getting involved in conflicts 00:02:13.472 --> 00:02:16.852 ranging from Yugoslavia to the Middle East 00:02:16.876 --> 00:02:18.600 to Chechnya to Venezuela -- 00:02:18.624 --> 00:02:21.697 some of the most difficult conflicts on the face of the planet -- 00:02:21.721 --> 00:02:23.812 I've been asking myself that question. 00:02:23.836 --> 00:02:27.232 And I think I've found, in some ways, what is the secret to peace. 00:02:27.256 --> 00:02:29.976 It's actually surprisingly simple. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.176 It's not easy, but it's simple. 00:02:33.200 --> 00:02:34.431 It's not even new. 00:02:34.455 --> 00:02:37.829 It may be one of our most ancient human heritages. 00:02:37.853 --> 00:02:40.170 The secret to peace is us. 00:02:40.662 --> 00:02:45.804 It's us who act as a surrounding community around any conflict, 00:02:45.828 --> 00:02:47.976 who can play a constructive role. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 Let me give you just a story, an example. 00:02:51.944 --> 00:02:53.096 About 20 years ago, 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:56.361 I was in South Africa, working with the parties in that conflict, 00:02:56.385 --> 00:02:57.648 and I had an extra month, 00:02:57.672 --> 00:03:02.238 so I spent some time living with several groups of San Bushmen. 00:03:02.262 --> 00:03:06.206 I was curious about them, about the way in which they resolve conflict. 00:03:06.230 --> 00:03:09.976 Because, after all, within living memory, they were hunters and gatherers, 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.356 living pretty much like our ancestors lived 00:03:12.380 --> 00:03:14.642 for maybe 99 percent of the human story. 00:03:15.213 --> 00:03:18.576 And all the men have these poison arrows that they use for hunting -- 00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:20.118 absolutely fatal. 00:03:20.142 --> 00:03:22.436 So how do they deal with their differences? 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:27.049 Well, what I learned is, whenever tempers rise in those communities, 00:03:27.073 --> 00:03:30.644 someone goes and hides the poison arrows out in the bush, 00:03:30.668 --> 00:03:34.303 and then everyone sits around in a circle like this, 00:03:34.327 --> 00:03:37.279 and they sit and they talk and they talk. 00:03:37.303 --> 00:03:39.614 It may take two days, three days, four days, 00:03:39.638 --> 00:03:42.976 but they don't rest until they find a resolution 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:44.976 or better yet -- a reconciliation. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.033 And if tempers are still too high, 00:03:47.057 --> 00:03:49.596 then they send someone off to visit some relatives, 00:03:49.620 --> 00:03:50.976 as a cooling-off period. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:51.398 --> 00:03:54.383 Well, that system is, I think, probably the system 00:03:54.407 --> 00:03:56.143 that kept us alive to this point, 00:03:56.167 --> 00:03:57.976 given our human tendencies. 00:03:58.841 --> 00:04:02.032 That system, I call "the third side." 00:04:02.056 --> 00:04:05.175 Because if you think about it, normally when we think of conflict, 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:06.350 when we describe it, 00:04:06.374 --> 00:04:07.747 there's always two sides -- 00:04:07.771 --> 00:04:10.477 it's Arabs versus Israelis, labor versus management, 00:04:10.501 --> 00:04:13.652 husband versus wife, Republicans versus Democrats. 00:04:13.676 --> 00:04:15.461 But what we don't often see 00:04:15.485 --> 00:04:17.851 is that there's always a third side, 00:04:17.875 --> 00:04:21.547 and the third side of the conflict is us, it's the surrounding community, 00:04:21.571 --> 00:04:22.976 it's the friends, the allies, 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:24.808 the family members, the neighbors. 00:04:24.832 --> 00:04:27.760 And we can play an incredibly constructive role. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:33.035 Perhaps the most fundamental way in which the third side can help 00:04:33.059 --> 00:04:35.976 is to remind the parties of what's really at stake. 00:04:36.336 --> 00:04:38.840 For the sake of the kids, for the sake of the family, 00:04:38.864 --> 00:04:41.634 for the sake of the community, for the sake of the future, 00:04:41.658 --> 00:04:44.099 let's stop fighting for a moment and start talking. 00:04:44.806 --> 00:04:46.281 Because, the thing is, 00:04:46.305 --> 00:04:47.878 when we're involved in conflict, 00:04:47.902 --> 00:04:50.461 it's very easy to lose perspective. 00:04:50.485 --> 00:04:52.524 It's very easy to react. 00:04:52.548 --> 00:04:55.421 Human beings -- we're reaction machines. 00:04:55.445 --> 00:04:56.818 And as the saying goes, 00:04:56.842 --> 00:04:59.365 when angry, you will make the best speech 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:00.874 you will ever regret. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:00.898 --> 00:05:02.556 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:02.580 --> 00:05:05.576 And so the third side reminds us of that. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:07.625 The third side helps us go to the balcony, 00:05:07.649 --> 00:05:10.355 which is a metaphor for a place of perspective, 00:05:10.379 --> 00:05:12.785 where we can keep our eyes on the prize. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:12.809 --> 00:05:16.389 Let me tell you a little story from my own negotiating experience. 00:05:16.413 --> 00:05:21.484 Some years ago, I was involved as a facilitator in some very tough talks 00:05:21.508 --> 00:05:24.731 between the leaders of Russia and the leaders of Chechnya. 00:05:25.429 --> 00:05:27.406 There was a war going on, as you know. 00:05:27.795 --> 00:05:30.976 And we met in the Hague, in the Peace Palace, 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:36.107 in the same room where the Yugoslav war-crimes tribunal was taking place. 00:05:36.131 --> 00:05:39.003 And the talks got off to a rather rocky start 00:05:39.027 --> 00:05:42.435 when the vice president of Chechnya began by pointing at the Russians 00:05:42.459 --> 00:05:44.976 and said, "You should stay right here in your seats, 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.811 because you're going to be on trial for war crimes." 00:05:47.835 --> 00:05:49.645 And then he turned to me and said, 00:05:49.669 --> 00:05:50.851 "You're an American. 00:05:50.875 --> 00:05:54.101 Look at what you Americans are doing in Puerto Rico." 00:05:54.125 --> 00:05:57.748 And my mind started racing, "Puerto Rico? What do I know about Puerto Rico?" 00:05:57.772 --> 00:05:58.924 I started reacting. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:58.948 --> 00:05:59.949 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:59.973 --> 00:06:02.809 But then, I tried to remember to go to the balcony. 00:06:02.833 --> 00:06:04.031 And then when he paused 00:06:04.055 --> 00:06:06.136 and everyone looked at me for a response, 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.538 from a balcony perspective, I was able to thank him for his remarks 00:06:09.562 --> 00:06:12.339 and say, "I appreciate your criticism of my country 00:06:12.363 --> 00:06:14.810 and I take it as a sign that we're among friends 00:06:14.834 --> 00:06:16.725 and can speak candidly to one another." NOTE Paragraph 00:06:16.749 --> 00:06:17.750 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:17.774 --> 00:06:21.155 "And what we're here to do is not to talk about Puerto Rico or the past. 00:06:21.179 --> 00:06:23.360 We're here to see if we can figure out a way 00:06:23.384 --> 00:06:25.976 to stop the suffering and the bloodshed in Chechnya." 00:06:26.851 --> 00:06:29.166 The conversation got back on track. 00:06:29.190 --> 00:06:30.849 That's the role of the third side, 00:06:30.873 --> 00:06:32.954 to help the parties go to the balcony. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:33.822 --> 00:06:36.049 Now let me take you, for a moment, 00:06:36.073 --> 00:06:39.138 to what's widely regarded as the world's most difficult conflict, 00:06:39.162 --> 00:06:41.703 or the most impossible conflict, the Middle East. 00:06:41.727 --> 00:06:44.976 Question is: where's the third side there? 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:47.164 How could we possibly go to the balcony? 00:06:47.505 --> 00:06:51.482 Now, I don't pretend to have an answer to the Middle East conflict, 00:06:51.506 --> 00:06:55.466 but I think I've got a first step -- literally, a first step -- 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:58.477 something that any one of us could do as third-siders. 00:06:58.501 --> 00:07:00.708 Let me just ask you one question first. 00:07:00.732 --> 00:07:04.725 How many of you in the last years 00:07:04.749 --> 00:07:07.784 have ever found yourself worrying about the Middle East 00:07:07.808 --> 00:07:09.560 and wondering what anyone could do? 00:07:09.584 --> 00:07:11.701 Just out of curiosity, how many of you? 00:07:11.725 --> 00:07:14.217 OK, so the great majority of us. 00:07:14.717 --> 00:07:16.321 And here, it's so far away. 00:07:16.345 --> 00:07:19.261 Why do we pay so much attention to this conflict? 00:07:19.285 --> 00:07:20.976 Is it the number of deaths? 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.397 There are a hundred times more people who die in a conflict in Africa 00:07:24.421 --> 00:07:25.572 than in the Middle East. 00:07:25.596 --> 00:07:27.683 No, it's because of the story, 00:07:27.707 --> 00:07:31.415 because we feel personally involved in that story. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.268 Whether we're Christians, Muslims or Jews, religious or non-religious, 00:07:35.292 --> 00:07:37.165 we feel we have a personal stake in it. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:38.340 Stories matter; 00:07:38.364 --> 00:07:40.122 as an anthropologist, I know that. 00:07:40.146 --> 00:07:43.764 Stories are what we use to transmit knowledge. 00:07:43.788 --> 00:07:45.309 They give meaning to our lives. 00:07:45.333 --> 00:07:48.030 That's what we tell here at TED, we tell stories. 00:07:48.054 --> 00:07:49.208 Stories are the key. 00:07:49.232 --> 00:07:51.803 And so my question is -- 00:07:52.470 --> 00:07:56.646 yes, let's try and resolve the politics there in the Middle East, 00:07:56.670 --> 00:07:59.194 but let's also take a look at the story. 00:07:59.218 --> 00:08:01.662 Let's try to get at the root of what it's all about. 00:08:01.686 --> 00:08:03.906 Let's see if we can apply the third side to it. 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:06.734 What would that mean? What is the story there? NOTE Paragraph 00:08:06.758 --> 00:08:10.976 Now, as anthropologists, we know that every culture has an origin story. 00:08:11.496 --> 00:08:13.597 What's the origin story of the Middle East? 00:08:13.621 --> 00:08:14.976 In a phrase, it's: 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:16.591 Four thousand years ago, 00:08:16.615 --> 00:08:20.605 a man and his family walked across the Middle East, 00:08:20.629 --> 00:08:23.200 and the world has never been the same since. 00:08:23.811 --> 00:08:26.246 That man, of course, was Abraham. 00:08:27.309 --> 00:08:30.976 And what he stood for was unity, the unity of the family; 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:32.976 he's the father of us all. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.989 But it's not just what he stood for, it's what his message was. 00:08:36.013 --> 00:08:37.976 His basic message was unity too, 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:41.210 the interconnectedness of it all, the unity of it all. 00:08:41.234 --> 00:08:44.544 And his basic value was respect, 00:08:44.568 --> 00:08:46.436 was kindness toward strangers. 00:08:46.460 --> 00:08:49.477 That's what he's known for, his hospitality. 00:08:50.048 --> 00:08:51.675 So in that sense, 00:08:51.699 --> 00:08:55.659 he's the symbolic third side of the Middle East. 00:08:55.683 --> 00:09:00.106 He's the one who reminds us that we're all part of a greater whole. 00:09:00.447 --> 00:09:03.740 Now, think about that for a moment. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:04.414 --> 00:09:06.862 Today, we face the scourge of terrorism. 00:09:07.291 --> 00:09:08.569 What is terrorism? 00:09:09.148 --> 00:09:12.407 Terrorism is basically taking an innocent stranger 00:09:12.431 --> 00:09:16.976 and treating them as an enemy whom you kill in order to create fear. 00:09:17.603 --> 00:09:19.389 What's the opposite of terrorism? 00:09:19.976 --> 00:09:21.696 It's taking an innocent stranger 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:26.107 and treating them as a friend whom you welcome into your home, 00:09:26.131 --> 00:09:28.823 in order to sow and create understanding 00:09:28.847 --> 00:09:30.635 or respect, or love. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:31.593 --> 00:09:36.253 So what if, then, you took the story of Abraham, 00:09:36.277 --> 00:09:37.910 which is a third-side story, 00:09:37.934 --> 00:09:39.976 what if that could be -- 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.321 because Abraham stands for hospitality -- 00:09:43.345 --> 00:09:46.559 what if that could be an antidote to terrorism? 00:09:46.583 --> 00:09:50.405 What if that could be a vaccine against religious intolerance? 00:09:50.429 --> 00:09:52.976 How would you bring that story to life? 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:55.762 Now, it's not enough just to tell a story. 00:09:55.786 --> 00:09:59.180 That's powerful, but people need to experience the story. 00:09:59.204 --> 00:10:01.158 They need to be able to live the story. 00:10:01.182 --> 00:10:02.458 How would you do that? 00:10:02.482 --> 00:10:04.976 And that was my thinking of how would you do that. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.143 And that's what comes to the first step here. 00:10:07.167 --> 00:10:09.890 Because the simple way to do that is: 00:10:09.914 --> 00:10:11.699 you go for a walk. 00:10:11.723 --> 00:10:15.138 You go for a walk in the footsteps of Abraham. 00:10:15.162 --> 00:10:18.090 You retrace the footsteps of Abraham. 00:10:18.114 --> 00:10:21.023 Because walking has a real power. 00:10:21.410 --> 00:10:24.467 You know, as an anthropologist, walking is what made us human. 00:10:24.491 --> 00:10:28.686 It's funny -- when you walk, you walk side-by-side, 00:10:28.710 --> 00:10:30.976 in the same common direction. 00:10:31.352 --> 00:10:33.413 Now if I were to come to you face-to-face 00:10:33.437 --> 00:10:35.683 and come this close to you, 00:10:35.707 --> 00:10:39.106 you would feel threatened. 00:10:39.717 --> 00:10:41.772 But if I walk shoulder-to-shoulder, 00:10:41.796 --> 00:10:43.677 even touching shoulders, 00:10:43.701 --> 00:10:44.976 it's no problem. 00:10:45.408 --> 00:10:46.976 Who fights while they walk? 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.976 That's why in negotiations, often, when things get tough, 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.395 people go for walks in the woods. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:57.841 So the idea came to me of, what about inspiring a path, 00:10:57.865 --> 00:11:01.503 a route -- think the Silk Route, think the Appalachian Trail -- 00:11:01.527 --> 00:11:05.753 that followed in the footsteps of Abraham? 00:11:05.777 --> 00:11:07.602 People said, "That's crazy. You can't. 00:11:07.626 --> 00:11:10.638 You can't retrace the footsteps of Abraham -- it's too insecure, 00:11:10.662 --> 00:11:12.520 you've got to cross all these borders, 00:11:12.544 --> 00:11:15.226 it goes across 10 different countries in the Middle East, 00:11:15.250 --> 00:11:16.647 because it unites them all." 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:18.926 And so we studied the idea at Harvard. 00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:20.180 We did our due diligence. 00:11:20.204 --> 00:11:21.403 And then a few years ago, 00:11:21.427 --> 00:11:24.157 a group of us, about 25 of us from 10 different countries, 00:11:24.181 --> 00:11:27.361 decided to see if we could retrace the footsteps of Abraham, 00:11:27.385 --> 00:11:29.885 going from his initial birthplace in the city of Urfa 00:11:29.909 --> 00:11:32.080 in Southern Turkey, Northern Mesopotamia. 00:11:32.588 --> 00:11:35.548 And we then took a bus and took some walks 00:11:35.572 --> 00:11:39.729 and went to Harran, where, in the Bible, he sets off on his journey. 00:11:39.753 --> 00:11:42.306 Then we crossed the border into Syria, went to Aleppo, 00:11:42.330 --> 00:11:44.678 which, turns out, is named after Abraham. 00:11:44.702 --> 00:11:45.976 We went to Damascus, 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.744 which has a long history associated with Abraham. 00:11:48.768 --> 00:11:51.530 We then came to Northern Jordan, 00:11:51.554 --> 00:11:56.580 to Jerusalem -- which is all about Abraham -- to Bethlehem, 00:11:56.604 --> 00:11:59.975 and finally, to the place where he's buried, in Hebron. 00:11:59.999 --> 00:12:02.282 So effectively, we went from womb to tomb. 00:12:02.306 --> 00:12:03.607 We showed it could be done. 00:12:03.631 --> 00:12:05.000 It was an amazing journey. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:05.334 --> 00:12:06.976 Let me ask you a question. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:11.363 How many of you have had the experience of being in a strange neighborhood 00:12:11.387 --> 00:12:13.603 or strange land, 00:12:13.627 --> 00:12:16.792 and a total stranger, perfect stranger, 00:12:16.816 --> 00:12:19.538 comes up to you and shows you some kindness -- 00:12:19.562 --> 00:12:22.061 maybe invites you into their home, gives you a drink, 00:12:22.085 --> 00:12:23.864 gives you a coffee, gives you a meal? 00:12:23.888 --> 00:12:26.058 How many of you have ever had that experience? 00:12:26.082 --> 00:12:28.873 That's the essence of the Abraham Path. 00:12:28.897 --> 00:12:32.414 That's what you discover as you go into these villages in the Middle East 00:12:32.438 --> 00:12:33.773 where you expect hostility, 00:12:33.797 --> 00:12:36.344 and you get the most amazing hospitality, 00:12:36.368 --> 00:12:37.777 all associated with Abraham: 00:12:37.801 --> 00:12:41.561 "In the name of Father Ibrahim, let me offer you some food." 00:12:41.585 --> 00:12:42.768 So what we discovered 00:12:42.792 --> 00:12:46.000 is that Abraham is not just a figure out of a book for those people; 00:12:46.024 --> 00:12:49.180 he's alive, he's a living presence. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:49.204 --> 00:12:51.331 And to make a long story short, 00:12:51.355 --> 00:12:53.417 in the last couple of years now, 00:12:53.441 --> 00:12:58.277 thousands of people have begun to walk parts of the path of Abraham 00:12:58.301 --> 00:12:59.634 in the Middle East, 00:12:59.658 --> 00:13:02.713 enjoying the hospitality of the people there. 00:13:02.737 --> 00:13:05.976 They've begun to walk in Israel and Palestine, 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.720 in Jordan, in Turkey, in Syria. 00:13:08.744 --> 00:13:10.053 It's an amazing experience. 00:13:10.077 --> 00:13:12.362 Men, women, young people, old people -- 00:13:12.386 --> 00:13:15.217 more women than men, actually, interestingly. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:15.241 --> 00:13:17.176 For those who can't walk, 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.715 who are unable to get there right now, 00:13:19.739 --> 00:13:23.359 people started to organize walks in cities, in their own communities. 00:13:23.383 --> 00:13:25.757 In Cincinnati, for instance, they organized a walk 00:13:25.781 --> 00:13:29.623 from a church to a mosque to a synagogue and all had an Abrahamic meal together. 00:13:29.647 --> 00:13:31.109 It was Abraham Path Day. 00:13:31.133 --> 00:13:33.539 In São Paulo, Brazil, it's become an annual event 00:13:33.563 --> 00:13:37.391 for thousands of people to run in a virtual Abraham Path Run, 00:13:37.415 --> 00:13:39.186 uniting the different communities. 00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:42.190 The media love it; they really adore it. 00:13:42.214 --> 00:13:45.668 They lavish attention on it because it's visual 00:13:45.692 --> 00:13:47.356 and it spreads the idea, 00:13:47.380 --> 00:13:51.762 this idea of Abrahamic hospitality, of kindness towards strangers. 00:13:51.786 --> 00:13:55.976 And just a couple weeks ago, there was an NPR story on it. 00:13:56.589 --> 00:13:57.757 Last month, 00:13:57.781 --> 00:14:03.698 there was a piece in the Manchester Guardian about it, 00:14:03.722 --> 00:14:05.587 two whole pages. 00:14:06.349 --> 00:14:09.569 And they quoted a villager 00:14:09.593 --> 00:14:12.680 who said, "This walk connects us to the world." 00:14:12.704 --> 00:14:15.521 He said, "It was like a light that went on in our lives -- 00:14:15.545 --> 00:14:16.976 it brought us hope." 00:14:17.436 --> 00:14:19.518 And so that's what it's about. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:19.542 --> 00:14:21.348 But it's not just about psychology; 00:14:21.372 --> 00:14:22.848 it's about economics. 00:14:22.872 --> 00:14:25.976 Because as people walk, they spend money. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.976 And this woman right here, Um Ahmad, 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.150 is a woman who lives on the path in Northern Jordan. 00:14:32.174 --> 00:14:33.976 She's desperately poor. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:37.645 She's partially blind, her husband can't work, 00:14:37.669 --> 00:14:39.621 she's got seven kids. 00:14:40.113 --> 00:14:41.976 But what she can do is cook. 00:14:42.671 --> 00:14:45.212 And so she's begun to cook for some groups of walkers 00:14:45.236 --> 00:14:48.840 who come through the village and have a meal in her home. 00:14:48.864 --> 00:14:52.164 They sit on the floor -- she doesn't even have a tablecloth. 00:14:52.188 --> 00:14:53.976 She makes the most delicious food, 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:57.122 that's fresh from the herbs in the surrounding countryside. 00:14:57.146 --> 00:14:59.273 And so more and more walkers have come, 00:14:59.297 --> 00:15:03.191 and lately she's begun to earn an income to support her family. 00:15:03.215 --> 00:15:06.092 And so she told our team there, she said, 00:15:06.116 --> 00:15:09.282 "You have made me visible 00:15:09.306 --> 00:15:12.976 in a village where people were once ashamed to look at me." 00:15:13.755 --> 00:15:15.976 That's the potential of the Abraham Path. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.762 There are literally hundreds of those kinds of communities 00:15:18.786 --> 00:15:21.252 across the Middle East, across the path. 00:15:22.196 --> 00:15:25.102 The potential is basically to change the game. 00:15:25.459 --> 00:15:29.165 And to change the game, you have to change the frame, the way we see things -- 00:15:29.189 --> 00:15:34.507 to change the frame from hostility to hospitality, 00:15:34.531 --> 00:15:36.976 from terrorism to tourism. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.737 And in that sense, the Abraham Path 00:15:39.761 --> 00:15:41.372 is a game-changer. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:41.887 --> 00:15:43.665 Let me just show you one thing. 00:15:43.689 --> 00:15:45.299 I have a little acorn here 00:15:45.323 --> 00:15:48.810 that I picked up while I was walking on the path earlier this year. 00:15:49.366 --> 00:15:52.213 Now, the acorn is associated with the oak tree, of course -- 00:15:52.237 --> 00:15:55.315 grows into an oak tree, which is associated with Abraham. 00:15:55.339 --> 00:15:57.282 The path right now is like an acorn; 00:15:57.306 --> 00:15:58.976 it's still in its early phase. 00:15:59.393 --> 00:16:01.313 What would the oak tree look like? 00:16:01.337 --> 00:16:02.976 When I think back to my childhood, 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:05.953 a good part of which I spent, after being born here in Chicago, 00:16:05.977 --> 00:16:07.332 I spent in Europe. 00:16:07.811 --> 00:16:14.517 If you had been in the ruins of, say, London in 1945, or Berlin, 00:16:14.541 --> 00:16:15.740 and you had said, 00:16:15.764 --> 00:16:17.447 "Sixty years from now, 00:16:17.471 --> 00:16:20.796 this is going to be the most peaceful, prosperous part of the planet," 00:16:20.820 --> 00:16:24.134 people would have thought you were certifiably insane. 00:16:24.158 --> 00:16:27.976 But they did it, thanks to a common identity, Europe, 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.976 and a common economy. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.309 So my question is, if it can be done in Europe, 00:16:33.333 --> 00:16:34.976 why not in the Middle East? 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.687 Why not, thanks to a common identity, which is the story of Abraham, 00:16:39.711 --> 00:16:44.405 and thanks to a common economy that would be based, in good part, on tourism? NOTE Paragraph 00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:47.397 So let me conclude, then, 00:16:47.421 --> 00:16:50.770 by saying that in the last 35 years, 00:16:50.794 --> 00:16:53.211 as I've worked in some of the most dangerous, 00:16:53.235 --> 00:16:56.162 difficult and intractable conflicts around the planet, 00:16:56.186 --> 00:17:01.791 I have yet to see one conflict that I felt could not be transformed. 00:17:02.338 --> 00:17:04.191 It's not easy, of course. 00:17:04.703 --> 00:17:05.976 But it's possible. 00:17:06.466 --> 00:17:08.406 It was done in South Africa. 00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:10.315 It was done in Northern Ireland. 00:17:10.339 --> 00:17:11.856 It could be done anywhere. 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:14.506 It simply depends on us. 00:17:14.530 --> 00:17:17.382 It depends on us taking the third side. 00:17:17.922 --> 00:17:21.534 So let me invite you to consider taking the third side, 00:17:21.558 --> 00:17:23.224 even as a very small step. 00:17:23.248 --> 00:17:25.470 We're about to take a break in a moment. 00:17:25.494 --> 00:17:27.471 Just go up to someone 00:17:27.495 --> 00:17:30.138 who's from a different culture, a different country, 00:17:30.162 --> 00:17:32.517 a different ethnicity -- some difference -- 00:17:32.541 --> 00:17:34.178 and engage them in a conversation. 00:17:34.202 --> 00:17:35.436 Listen to them. 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:36.976 That's a third-side act. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.284 That's walking Abraham's Path. 00:17:39.308 --> 00:17:40.833 After a TED Talk, 00:17:40.857 --> 00:17:42.306 why not a TED Walk? NOTE Paragraph 00:17:42.330 --> 00:17:43.751 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:43.775 --> 00:17:47.938 So let me just leave you with three things. 00:17:47.962 --> 00:17:52.671 One is, the secret to peace is the third side. 00:17:53.386 --> 00:17:55.806 The third side is us. 00:17:55.830 --> 00:17:59.401 Each of us, with a single step, 00:17:59.425 --> 00:18:02.145 can take the world, can bring the world 00:18:02.169 --> 00:18:04.075 a step closer to peace. 00:18:05.318 --> 00:18:07.374 There's an old African proverb that goes: 00:18:07.398 --> 00:18:09.564 "When spiderwebs unite, 00:18:09.588 --> 00:18:12.151 they can halt even the lion." 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:16.945 If we're able to unite our third-side webs of peace, 00:18:16.969 --> 00:18:19.977 we can even halt the lion of war. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:20.001 --> 00:18:21.152 Thank you very much. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:21.176 --> 00:18:24.495 (Applause)