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In Japanese, it is said like this:

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[Japanese phrase]

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That translates into, "being ignorant of 
truth makes me a slave to a lie"

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Or that, " To a know a half truth is a
lie doubled" or, "I will know the truth

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and the truth will set you free"

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There are many phrases about truth.

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The Japanese like to say it like this,

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[japanese phrase]

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"Being ignorant of 
truth makes me a slave to a lie"

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You can't imagine just how many myths and
lies a Latin american

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has about a country named Japan

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And that is my job in Latin America.


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To end and dismantle these myths
that block the...

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latino progressive mentality.

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We propagate myths everyday

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We say the "sun comes out", 
but the sun doesn't come out.

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We orbit around the sun,
which is different.

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My clothes are smaller on 
me. No, they aren't small

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you're just putting on 
weight, which is different.

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I grew up with a myth that
wasn't very harmful.

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Just as these
aren't harmful.

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"Are you chinese?",
they would ask.

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"Chinese, no. I'm japanese."

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"China and Japan are different. 
Language, culture, it's all different"

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"Oh..", they would say. "But you
speak chinese?"

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"No... japanese because
I'm japanese."

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"Oh yeah, that's right but you fight
like the Chinese do?"

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In reality, what people always want 
to ask, once we've

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become better acquainted, 
both children and

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adults, is: "Do you eat rat, or no?"

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I don't know how many times
I've responded,

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"I don't eat rat, I don't eat rat, 
I don't eat rat"

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When I arrived in Japan at the 
age of ten I felt free of

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that rat eating question. And I said, 
"Well finally, I'm free of that question."

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And the kids from, 
[japanese phrase]

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the elementary school surrounded
and looked at me and said,

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[japanese phrase]

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"You're different."

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[japanese phrase]

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"Where are you from?"

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[response in japanese]

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"I'm from Colombia."

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[ japanese ]

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"Yeah, you're features are different."

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[ question in japanese ]

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"What is Colombia, where's it at?"

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[ response in japanese ]

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"In South America."

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[ japanese ]

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They didn't know where Colombia was.

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[ japanese ]

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"Next to Brazil."

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[ japanese ]

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"Brazil?, you mean the Amazon?"

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"Well, yeah. Colombia includes a 
large portion of the Amazon River."

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[ japanese ]

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"You come from the amazon area?"

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"Yes, Colombia has a big part of the 
Amazon River."

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[ japanese exclamation ]

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"Awesome!"

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Then they asked me the big question,
[ japanese ]

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"So you eat snake then?"

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That's when I realized that I would
be answering this type

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of question for the rest of my life.

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For some reason, here I eat rat and 
there I eat snake.

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But the Japanese don't eat rat. 
That's false. It's a myth.

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Neither do the Chinese.

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The Chinese eat weirder 
things but not rat.

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In Colombia, snake isn't a typical
dish. Nevertheless, these myths

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exist and I'll say it again. These aren't
harmful. They don't damage our mentality.

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But there are some that continue
to be harmful.

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Its my job, my duty and my passion to
do away with this myths

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and I'd like you all to help me.
Have you ever once heard, as

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a young student, the traumatizing 
myth with which I grew up with?

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First,

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[ japanese phrase ]

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The Japanese are intelligent.

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Help me out. Have you ever heard
this before? Raise your hand

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with me please.
Wow. Thanks.

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Imagine this.

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My Colombian grandfather, on my mothers 
side, would say to me,

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"Son, they're going to take you to 
Japan. "Yes, grandfather." I responded.

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"They're a superior race," he said.
"They are intelligent."

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And he showed me an old Sony 
radio and said,

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"These are made over there."

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On one occasion I even heard
a teacher say, "Look here the

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Japanese are given wires and 
circuits and they make radios

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at their desks."

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I was under such pressure
because a lot of people would see

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me and say, "Are you Japanese?" 
"Yeah, Japanese" I'd respond.

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"You must be really smart, huh?" 
they would reply.

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"Because they're very intelligent. 
All the technology comes

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from over there, very smart"

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I began to get really stressed 
out but I'd put on a good face.

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"Yeah sure." I'd say.

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But inside I was thinking, "My God,
it's already going badly for me

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in Colombia. How's it gonna be 
over there?"

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Match up to a superior race that
makes calculators and radios

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at their desks.

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So because of this I arrived in
Japan very stressed out at

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the age of ten, really worried.

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I'll never forget my
first day of school.

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I sat in desk at the back
of the class.

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Like any other newcomer, I was 
analyzing and watching.

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And I began to be very happy.

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Because they yelled the same, 
they jumped the same, and

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they roughhoused the same, 
and they laughed the same.

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In Japanese, sure, but it was 
the same.

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They appeared to be exactly
the same as the Colombian kids.

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The difference..

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and what really stood out there
was when the teacher entered.

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The teacher walked in. Everyone 
began to run as if

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they had seen a ghost.

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They straightened their 
desks and sat down.

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One of the kids said,
[ japanese ], which means

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"Stand up!" [ japanese ]
"Straight!" [ japanese ]

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"Good Morning!"

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"Good Morning," they responded.

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[japanese command], "Sit down."
They all sat down.

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From there on, they all listened and
took notes. Nobody

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talked to his neighbor. There 
was an emphatic silence

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in the the class as they all 
listened to the teacher.

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The teacher never had to fight
to get everyone's attention by saying

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"Look here everyone, listen up," 
write this, open your notebooks."

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They did it all without being asked.
The teacher left and another

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came in. The kids joked around
and yelled but when the

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next teacher came in, again the
same protocol was followed.

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And they were attentive again. 
I began to feel uneasy because

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I thought, "How is that they get 
all of them to behave so well?"

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"Clearly, in Japan they have cameras
and they beat the those

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that misbehave at the end of the hall."

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But, no. There weren't any cameras
and they didn't beat them.

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Simply put, in Japanese there is a phrase
goes like this:

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[japanese phrase]

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That translates as: Sooner or later,
discipline will overcome intelligence.

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They're not interested in being
intelligent, but rather disciplined

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because, according to them, success
is found in being disciplined.

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The evidence of what I'm saying 
is true is this: The Japanese didn't

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invent the car, right? Or motorcycles 
either? Neither did they invent

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computers, radios, or calculators.

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But who are the owners of Toyota, 
Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha,

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Nissan, Mitsubishi, Sony Vaio,
Toshiba, Hitachi, etc?

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The Japanese are.

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Everything they got their hands on, 
not because of ingenuity, they

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they didn't create them, they improved
them thanks to their discipline.

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Because they are a people disciplined 
to death.

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For them, discipline is the secret
to success.

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A Japanese person never arrives late
to an appointment.

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If you say its at six, it's at six. 
If it's seven, it's at seven.

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He will never miss it. 
But if he will, he will let

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you know two days prior saying,
"You know what, I think i'm

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arrive fifteen minutes late the
day after tomorrow."

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It's exactly like that.

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To them, time is valuable and it's not
important to be intelligent.

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It is important to be disciplined with
time because sooner or later

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discipline will overcome intelligence.

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The Colombian IS intelligent.

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I have been in fourteen countries and
I love, I delight, in hearing about

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Columbia and its people. How are they?
What are they doing?

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Where are they working? Are they behaving?
Are they liked?

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The Colombian has something. Wherever 
he is, as we say, he just fits in.

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He will be liked. He'll say what the 
people want to hear.

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He'll adapt to the system, language,
and even to the climate.

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He'll teach himself the ways of
a new country.

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He's an innovator. He's not satisfied
with staying in one single place.

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He develops, invents, 
and devises things.

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If we don't know a way to
say something we make one up.

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We don't stay in the same place. 
We flourish.

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Colombians ARE intelligent.


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A Japanese person waits to,
or takes up two to three

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hours to make a single decision.

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The Japanese are indecisive and
unsure.

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Colombians take risks. They just 
do it.

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I've become accustomed to saying 
outside Colombia, if you tell

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a Colombian, "Hey Colombian, 
come here and climb up over there."

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You know what they'll say say. 
"For what, or why?"

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But if say it this way, "Colombian,
you're not capable of climbing

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up over there." "No? Just wait
and you'll see!" they'll respond.

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The problem is getting them down
from there once they're up. Don't

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challenge a Colombian. They will
do anything just to try it,

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however silly it may be, because
you challenged them to.

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Colombians will invent and come
up with things.

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The Colombian is intelligent. 
The Japanese are not.

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Now, as far being disciplined goes, 
it is better that

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we don't even talk about that.

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Here if we have an appointment at six
we'll show up at seven.

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Or come Monday and we say, "Hey did 
you end up going to the appointment"

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"Nope." .. "Me either!" This is why we get
along so well.

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If the phrase says, sooner or later 
discipline will overcome intelligence,

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I assure you, that a lack of discipline, 
no matter how much talent or skill

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you have, at some point it will
cause you to miss out

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the best opportunities in life.

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It has nothing to do with you 
just choosing to, or being a natural

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at it, or even because 
it comes easy to you.

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It's about being disciplined because,
according to Japanese thinking,

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success is found within discipline.

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Even still today, I struggle with the 
idea that all Japanese are intelligent.

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They still say to me, "You are...," while 
I'm thinking inside, "Please say

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Japanese." ...."Japanese?" they ask. 
"Yes!" I exclaim.

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"Can you fix my television
for me? It's a Sony."

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00:10:23,844 --> 00:10:26,224
And I say, "No, I don't know anything 
about that."

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It's not true. Latinos are
intelligent,

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but the issue is that discipline
is beginning to disappear,

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from our children to our adults, to 
not name any names.

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Discipline is very important, essential, 
in the success of a nation.

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There are words that I am unable
to translate from Japanese.

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"I'll be there in one second."

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I can say to friend in Japan by 
telephone, [ japanese ] ,

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"Wait, I'll be there 
in one second."

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00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:06,290
If I say this literally to my friend, he 
would be like..

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00:11:06,290 --> 00:11:08,990
In order that I literally arrive
in one second you would

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have to be falling from a building.

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[ japanese ]

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"I'm already there, I'm already there."

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00:11:14,966 --> 00:11:15,886
[ japanese ]

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If you already there, you are 
actually there.

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Either you're dead or I am 
and we don't see each other.

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"I'm already there?" It's not
possible.

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This is why we call it the
power of expression.

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I will be there in one second, can 
be translated into;

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I have fourteen traffic lights to go,
I'm still in the shower, the truth

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is I don't want to go so
maybe I won't.

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One way or another, we have
failed to understand that it's

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not only about having talent but
rather, discipline,

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which can carry us to succeed.

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The secret of success lies in being disciplined.