92-year-old Shimon Peres, the ninth President of Israel, made one of the most motivating speeches, according to participants, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES), which ended in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. He talked about the laziness, courage and audacity of hope. The text of his speech was published by the Ukrainian newspaper New Era.
We have dreamed about our own land, but the land that we got was not a dream. It was a small piece, one-thousandth of the Middle East. This land was not very good to us. There were swamps, mosquitoes, desert in the south, stones. We had to choose between mosquitoes and stones. There were two lakes – one was dead, the second was becoming extinct. There was a famous river – but there was no water. That is, there was no water at all. There were no natural resources there – neither gold nor oil. Then they said that there are two types of countries in the Middle East – oil countries and holy countries. Our land was absolutely holy, because we had nothing.
We were alone. We did not have a brother in religion, a sister in language, a neighbor in history. All this happened after the Holocaust. We came there and did not know what to do at all, really did not know.
So we were thinking: the greatest wealth of nature is a person. People have enriched the land and not the land enriched the people.
We have all become scientists. Every farmer in Israel, every kibbutz began to think how they could develop agriculture without water, without land. We began to develop it. It was the first agriculture in the world, based on hi-tech. I myself was a student in the University of Agriculture, we tried to carry out irrigation – we watered the trees with hot water, thinking that they will grow better.
To our surprise, it turned out that agriculture, based also on high-tech, not only on the land, actually works. Today we have enough water. The water is usually found – it is not drilled for. And we began to produce it. And we succeeded. We started to desalinate water, we sought out vegetables which do not "drink" too much. Here's the real secret: for the future it is important what you produce, not what you find.
We did not have people or weapons, we had never fought, we had only 450 thousand people, we had no generals, no military experience. The UN decided to create the State of Israel, but in fact there was a war. What could we do? Two things.
The first, the people had to be courageous and brave. They had to understand that we had no choice – we only needed to win. If we lost, then at least once it would be done.
The second thing, because we did not have weapons, we began to produce them. We had to develop IT to improve the army. The Israeli IT-sector was working for the army. Because we were alone in a hostile environment.
Why am I telling you this? Until now, I tell young guys or girls: friends, you have a lot more than you think. Do not be lazy. You do have much more than the land can offer you. You can make things that are not given to you. This is a lesson for all.
Ukraine is one of the most important countries in the world in the field of agriculture. Your supplies are really large and you should not give up on agriculture – you can and you should upgrade it, to pool resources and the talents of the people.
All people have a very high potential. But they are a little bit lazy. You need to work hard if you want to achieve something. Nothing falls from the sky. We have worked very hard. What's bad about this? I do not know... People go on vacation - it's a waste of time. I'm already 90 and I've never been on vacation. They say, "Are you crazy? How do you relax?" I prefer to work. I get pleasure from work. And do not be pessimistic – that is also a waste of time, especially when times are changing.
It is necessary to follow science. Science has no borders, limits, science has no reflection. Do not try to solve the problems of the past, I don't know if it's possible. The past does not play any role. Just learn it, so you do not repeat old mistakes. In the past, there is no future, no hope.
Most people prefer to remember but not to imagine – this is the biggest mistake. What do you want to remember? All the mistakes that have been made? You can't rely on history. The historians were heralds of kings and those who were in power – they said what they needed to say.
People are afraid of something ... Only God knows what will happen to us.
People ask me sometimes: if you look back, what were your biggest mistakes? I answer that we thought that we had great dreams. And now we understand that they were not that great. Dream big. The greater your dream, the more you'll get.
Your young generation is great. But what makes me angry about them – they despise politics. They say that politics is corrupt, it is not for us. I say: if you are honest, and you want honest politics – then go ahead and make an honest policy.
These are all the lessons that I have myself learned from the past.
People also ask me how to stay active. It's very easy. Keep your accomplishments and dreams in mind. If you have more dreams than achievements, this means you are still young. Otherwise you are old.
