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One morning, 18 years ago,

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I stepped out of a New York City subway[br]on a beautiful day in September.

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The sun was warm and bright,[br]the sky was a clear, perfect blue.

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I had my six-month-old son in one of those[br]front-facing baby carriers,

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you know, so he could see everything.

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And when I turned right on Sixth Avenue,

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what he saw

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was the World Trade Center on fire.

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As soon as I realized[br]that this was an attack,

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the first thing I did, without even[br]really thinking about it,

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was to take my baby[br]and turn him around in that carrier.

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I didn't want him to see[br]what was going on.

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And I just remember feeling so grateful[br]that he was still young enough

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that I didn't have to tell him[br]that someone had done this on purpose.

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9/11 was like crossing a border,

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a hostile border into dangerous,[br]uncharted territory.

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The world was suddenly[br]in this terrifying new place,

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and I was in this place as a new mother.

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I remember my thoughts[br]kind of ping-ponging around

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from, "How am I ever[br]going to protect this baby?"

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to, "How am I ever[br]going to get some sleep?"

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Well, my son turned 18 this year,

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along with millions of other people[br]who were babies on 9/11.

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And in that time,

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we have all crossed into this hostile,[br]uncharted territory

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of climate breakdown,

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of endless wars,

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of economic meltdowns,

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of deep political divisions,

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of the many crises around the world[br]that I don't need to list off,

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because they are blaring at you[br]every single day from your news feed.

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But there is something I've learned[br]in these 18 years of parenting

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and in my years leading[br]a global women's rights organization.

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There is a way to face[br]these big crises in the world

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without feeling overwhelmed[br]and despairing.

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It's simple, and it's powerful.

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It's to think like a mother.

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Now, to be clear, you don't[br]have to be a woman

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or a parent to do this.

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Thinking like a mother is a lens[br]that's available to everybody.

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The poet Alexis De Veaux writes,

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"Motherhood is not simply[br]the organic process of giving birth.

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It's an understanding[br]of the needs of the world."

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Now, it's easy to focus on[br]all of the obstacles

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to making this the world we want:

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greed, inequality, violence.

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Yes, there is all of that.

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But there's also the option[br]to plant a seed, a different seed,

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and cultivate what you want to see grow,

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even in the midst of crisis.

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Majid from Iraq understands this.

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He is a housepainter by trade

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and someone who believes deeply[br]in equal rights for women.

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When ISIS invaded[br]northern Iraq, where he lives,

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he worked with a local[br]women's organization

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to help build an underground railroad,

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an escape network[br]for women's rights activists

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and LGBTIQ folks who were targeted[br]with assassination.

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And when I asked Majid[br]why he risked his own life

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to bring people to safety,

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he said to me,

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"If we want a brighter future,

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we have to build it now in the dark times

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so that one day we can live in the light."

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That's what social justice work is,[br]and that's what mothers do.

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We act in the present[br]with an idea of the future

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that we want to bring about.

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All of the best ideas[br]seem impossible at first.

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But just in my lifetime,

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we've seen the end of apartheid,

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the affirmation that[br]women's rights are human rights,

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marriage equality,

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the fall of dictators[br]who ruled for decades

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and so much more.

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All of these things seemed impossible

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until people took action[br]to make them happen,

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and then, like, almost right away,

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they seemed inevitable.

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When I was growing up,

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whether we were stuck in traffic[br]or dealing with a family tragedy,

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my mother would say,

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"Something good is going to happen,[br]we just don't know what it is yet."

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Now, I will admit that my brothers and I[br]make fun of her for this,

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but people ask me all the time

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how I deal with the suffering[br]that I see in my work

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in refugee camps and disaster zones,

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and I think of my mom[br]and that seed of possibility

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that she planted in me.

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Because, when you believe[br]that something good is coming

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and you're part of making it happen,

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you start to be able to see[br]beyond the suffering

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to how things could be.

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Today, there is a new set[br]of necessary ideas

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that seem impossible[br]but one day will feel inevitable:

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that we could end violence against women,

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make war a thing of the past,

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learn to live in balance with nature[br]before it's too late

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and make sure that everybody[br]has what they need to thrive.

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Of course, being able to picture[br]a future like this is not the same thing

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as knowing what to do[br]to make it come about,

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but thinking like a mother[br]can help with that, too.

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A few years ago,

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East Africa was gripped by a famine,

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and women I know from Somalia

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walked for days carrying[br]their hungry children

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in search of food and water.

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A quarter of a million people died,

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and half of them were babies and toddlers.

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And while this catastrophe unfolded,

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too much of the world looked away.

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But a group of women farmers in Sudan,

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including Fatima Ahmed --[br]that's her holding the corn --

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heard about what was happening.

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And they pooled together the extra money[br]that they had from their harvest

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and asked me to send it[br]to those Somali mothers.

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Now, these farmers could have decided[br]that they didn't have the power to act.

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They were barely getting by themselves,

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some of them.

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They lived without electricity,[br]without furniture.

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But they overrode that.

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They did what mothers do:

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they saw themselves as the solution[br]and they took action.

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You do it all the time if you have kids.

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You make major decisions[br]about their health care,

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their education,[br]their emotional well-being,

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even if you're not a doctor[br]or a teacher or a therapist.

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You recognize what your child needs

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and you step up to provide it[br]the best you can.

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Thinking like a mother means[br]seeing the whole world

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through the eyes of those[br]who are responsible

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for its most vulnerable people.

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And we're not used to thinking[br]of subsistence farmers as philanthropists,

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but those women were practicing[br]the root meaning of philanthropy:

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love for humanity.

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What's at the core of thinking[br]like a mother shouldn't be a surprise:

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it's love.

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Because, love is more[br]than just an emotion.

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It's a capacity, a verb,

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an endlessly renewable resource --

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and not just in our private lives.

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We recognize hate in the public sphere.

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Right? Hate speech, hate crimes.

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But not love.

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What is love in the public sphere?

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Well, Cornel West, who is not[br]a mother but thinks like one,

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says it best:

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"Justice is what love[br]looks like in public."

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And when we remember that every policy[br]is an expression of social values,

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love stands out as that superstar value,

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the one best able to account[br]for the most vulnerable among us.

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And when we position love[br]as a kind of leading edge

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in policy making,

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we get new answers[br]to fundamental social questions,

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like, "What's the economy for?"

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"What is our commitment[br]to those in the path of the hurricane?"

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"How do we greet those[br]arriving to our borders?"

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When you think like a mother,

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you prioritize the needs of the many,

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not the whims of the few.

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When you think like a mother,

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you don't build a seawall[br]around beachfront property,

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because that would divert floodwaters

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to communities that are still exposed.

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When you think like a mother,

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you don't try to prosecute someone

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for leaving water for people[br]crossing the desert.

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Because, you know --

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(Applause)

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Because you know that migration,

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just like mothering,

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is an act of hope.

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Now, not every mother[br]thinks like a mother.

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When presented with a choice,[br]some of us have made the wrong one,

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hiding behind weapons[br]or barbed wire or privilege

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to deny the rest of the world,

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thinking they can see their way to safety[br]in some kind of armed lifeboat

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fueled by racism and xenophobia.

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Not every mother is a role model,

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but all of us have a choice.

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Are we going to jump[br]on that armed lifeboat

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or work together to build a mother ship[br]that can carry everyone?

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You know how to build that mother ship,

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how to repair the world[br]and ease the suffering.

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Think like a mother.

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Thinking like a mother[br]is a tool we can all use

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to build the world we want.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)