00:00 My name, Xie, means soft rain.
00:03 And in my language, Otomi, the word for the outer layer of the earth is the same as the word for our skin.
00:11 Meaning that when you hurt Mother Earth, you're actually hurting yourself.
00:16 Languages of indigenous communities have so much knowledge and wisdom within them that we often ignore
00:22 because we are so focused on what's next rather than in our past and what our ancestors have been learning and teaching.
00:29 I remember the first time I learned what a seed was and how it worked and how it flew
00:35 and how some seeds have these kind of wings with them and the wind just flies them away.
00:41 And then I think of what is needed for an apple to grow.
00:45 The sunshine, the water coming from the tree, all of the thousands of interactions that need to be possible for that apple to be who it is.
00:56 And I think that is us today, fruits of thousands and thousands of interactions.
01:01 We're not just celebrating a hundred people.
01:03 We're celebrating thousands of those who were here before us, who made it possible for us to be here.
01:10 And we're celebrating that the world is interconnected, that the things that we do, the actions that we choose to take,
01:16 are what are going to shape the world.
01:19 And so that is how I choose to walk my path,
01:22 knowing that I'm an architect of the future, honoring my ancestors as well as future generations.
01:28 Today, I want to toast Mother Earth because every breath that we have taken, every bite, every single step,
01:36 we owe it to this beautiful world.
01:39 And I want to share with you a beautiful saying that says,
01:42 "We don't inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
01:48 So what are we doing today to make sure that this borrowed earth can be handed down with pride, with love,
01:57 and with a feeling that we were here and we accomplished something greater than ourselves.
02:03 To Mother Earth, thank you.
02:05 (audience applauds)
Comments