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TED, Sam Berns: My philosophy for a happy life

Sam Berns: My philosophy for a happy life

Hello everyone.

I'm Sam, and I just turned 17. A few years ago, before my freshman year in High School, I wanted to play snare drum in the Foxboro High School Marching Band, and it was a dream that I just had to accomplish. But each snare drum and harness weighed about 40 pounds each, and I have a disease called Progeria. So just to give you an idea, I weigh only about 50 pounds.

So, logistically, I really couldn't carry a regular sized snare drum, and because of this the band director assigned me to play pit percussion during the halftime show. Now pit percussion was fun.

It involved some really cool auxiliary percussion instruments, like the bongos, timpani, and timbales, and cowbell. So it was fun, but it involved no marching, and I was just so devastated. However, nothing was going to stop me from playing snare drum with the marching band in the halftime show.

So my family and I worked with an engineer to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry. So after continuous work, we made a snare drum apparatus that weighs only about 6 pounds.

I just want to give you some more information about Progeria.

It affects only about 350 kids today, worldwide. So it's pretty rare, and the effects of Progeria include: tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth, and heart disease. Last year my Mom and her team of scientists published the first successful Progeria Treatment Study, and because of this I was interviewed on NPR, and John Hamilton asked me the question: “What is the most important thing that people should know about you?” And my answer was simply that I have a very happy life.

So even though there are many obstacles in my life, with a lot of them being created by Progeria, I don't want people to feel bad for me.

I don't think about these obstacles all the time, and I'm able to overcome most of them anyway. So I'm here today, to share with you my philosophy for a happy life.

So, for me, there are 3 aspects to this philosophy. So this is a quote from the famous Ferris Bueller. “Life moves pretty fast.

If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller “I'm okay with what I ultimately can't do” The first aspect to my philosophy is that I'm okay with what I ultimately can't do because there is so much I can do.

Now people sometimes ask me questions like, “Isn't it hard living with Progeria?” or “What daily challenges of Progeria do you face?” And I'd like to say that, even though I have Progeria, most of my time is spent thinking about things that have nothing to do with Progeria at all.

Now this doesn't mean that I ignore the negative aspects of these obstacles.

When I can't do something like run a long distance, or go on an intense roller coaster, I know what I'm missing out on. But instead, I choose to focus on the activities that I can do through things that I'm passionate about, like scouting, or music, or comic books, or any of my favorite Boston sports teams.

However, sometimes I need to find a different way to do something by making adjustments, and I want to put those things in the “can do” category.

Kind of like you saw with the drum earlier. So here's a clip with me playing Spider-Man with the Foxboro High School Marching Band at halftime a couple of years ago. [Video Presentation]

Spider-Man theme song?

Thank you. All right, all right, so — That was pretty cool, and so I was able to accomplish my dream of playing snare drum with the marching band, as I believe I can do for all of my dreams.

So hopefully, you can accomplish your dreams as well, with this outlook. “I surround myself with people I want to be with” The next aspect to my philosophy is that I surround myself with people I want to be with, people of high quality .

I'm extremely lucky to have an amazing family, who have always supported me throughout my entire life. And I'm also really fortunate to have a really close group of friends at school. Now we're kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other's company, and we help each other out when we need to.

We see each other for who we are on the inside. So this is us goofing off a little bit. So we're juniors in High School now, and we can now mentor younger band members, as a single collective unit.

What I love about being in a group like the band, is that the music that we make together, is true, is genuine, and it supersedes Progeria. So I don't have to worry about that when I'm feeling so good about making music. But even having made a documentary, going on TV a couple of times, I feel like I'm at my highest point when I'm with the people that surround me every day.

They provide the real positive influences in my life, as I hope I can provide a positive influence in theirs as well. So the bottom line here is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro's and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, positive impact.

Keep moving forward The third aspect to the philosophy is – Keep moving forward .

Here's a quote by a man you may know, named Walt Disney, and it's one of my favorite quotes. “Around here… we don't look backwards for very long.

We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things.” – Walt Disney (Meet the Robinsons) I always try to have something to look forward to.

Something to strive for to make my life richer. It doesn't have to be big. It could be anything from looking forward to the next comic book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game. However, all of these things keep me focused, and know that there's a bright future ahead, and may get me through some difficult times that I may be having.

Now this mentality includes staying in a forward thinking state of mind.

I try hard not to waste energy feeling badly for myself, because when I do, I get stuck in a paradox, where there's no room for any happiness or any other emotion. Now, it's not that I ignore when I'm feeling badly, I kind of accept it, I let it in, so that I can acknowledge it, and do what I need to do to move past it.

When I was younger, I wanted to be an engineer.

I wanted to be an inventor who would catapult the world into a better future. Maybe this came from my love of Legos, and the freedom of expression that I felt when I was building with them. And this was also derived from my family and my mentors, who always make me feel whole, and good about myself.

Now today my ambitions have changed a little bit, I'd like to go into the field of Biology, maybe cell biology, or genetics, or biochemistry, or really anything.

This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away. I feel that no matter what I choose to become, I believe that I can change the world. And as I'm striving to change the world, I will be happy. About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called “Life According to Sam”.

That was a pretty great experience, but it was also four years ago. And like anyone, my views on many things have changed, and hopefully matured, like my potential career choice. However, some things have stayed the same throughout that time.

Like my mentality, and philosophy towards life. So I would like to show you a clip of my younger self from the film, that I feel embodies that philosophy.

[Video] I know more about it genetically.

So it's less of an embodiment now. It used to be like this thing that prevents me from doing all this stuff, that causes other kids to die, that causes everybody to be stressed, and now it's a protein that is abnormal, that weakens the structure of cells. So, and it takes a burden off of me because now I don't have to think about Progeria as an entity.

Okay, pretty good, huh? So, as you can see I've been thinking this way for many years.

But I'd never really had to apply all of these aspects of my philosophy to the test at one time, until last January. I was pretty sick, I had a chest cold, and I was in the hospital for a few days, and I was secluded from all of the aspects of my life that I felt made me, me, that kind of gave me my identity. But knowing that I was going to get better, and looking forward to a time that I would feel good again, helped me to keep moving forward.

And sometimes I had to be brave, and it wasn't always easy. Sometimes I faltered, I had bad days, but I realized that being brave isn't supposed to be easy. And for me, I feel it's the key way to keep moving forward.

So, all in all, I don't waste energy feeling bad for myself. I surround myself with people that I want to be with, and I keep moving forward. So with this philosophy, I hope that all of you, regardless of your obstacles, can have a very happy life as well.

Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice –- Never miss a party if you can help it. My school's homecoming dance is tomorrow night, and I will be there.

Thank you very much.

Sam Berns: My philosophy for a happy life Sam Berns: Meine Philosophie für ein glückliches Leben Sam Berns: Mi filosofía para una vida feliz Sam Berns : Ma philosophie pour une vie heureuse Sam Berns: La mia filosofia per una vita felice サム・バーンズ幸せな人生を送るための私の哲学 샘 번스: 행복한 삶을 위한 나의 철학 Sam Berns: Moja filozofia szczęśliwego życia Sam Berns: Minha filosofia para uma vida feliz Сэм Бернс: Моя философия счастливой жизни Sam Berns: Mutlu bir yaşam için felsefem Сем Бернс: Моя філософія щасливого життя 萨姆-伯恩斯我的幸福人生哲学

Hello everyone.

I’m Sam, and I just turned 17. Soy Sam y acabo de cumplir 17 años. A few years ago, before my freshman year in High School, I wanted to play snare drum in the Foxboro High School Marching Band, and it was a dream that I just had to accomplish. Hace unos años, antes de mi primer año en el instituto, quería tocar la caja en la banda de música del instituto Foxboro, y era un sueño que tenía que cumplir. Несколько лет назад, перед моим первым годом в средней школе, я хотел играть на малом барабане в марширующем оркестре средней школы Фоксборо, и это была мечта, которую я просто должен был осуществить. But each snare drum and harness weighed about 40 pounds each, and I have a disease called Progeria. Pero cada caja y cada arnés pesaban unos 18 kilos, y yo tengo una enfermedad llamada progeria. So just to give you an idea, I weigh only about 50 pounds. Para que te hagas una idea, sólo peso unos 15 kilos. Так что просто чтобы дать вам представление, я вешу всего около 50 фунтов.

So, logistically, I really couldn’t carry a regular sized snare drum, and because of this the band director assigned me to play pit percussion during the halftime show. Desde el punto de vista logístico, no podía llevar una caja de tamaño normal, por lo que el director de la banda me asignó la percusión de foso durante el espectáculo del descanso. Так что с точки зрения логистики я действительно не мог нести малый барабан обычного размера, и из-за этого директор группы поручил мне играть на перкуссии во время шоу в перерыве между таймами. Now pit percussion was fun. Ahora la percusión del foso era divertida.

It involved some really cool auxiliary percussion instruments, like the bongos, timpani, and timbales, and cowbell. Contaba con unos instrumentos de percusión auxiliares muy chulos, como bongos, timbales y cencerros. So it was fun, but it involved no marching, and I was just so devastated. Así que fue divertido, pero no implicaba marchar, y yo estaba destrozada. 楽しかったのですが、行進は必要ありませんでした。 However, nothing was going to stop me from playing snare drum with the marching band in the halftime show. Sin embargo, nada me iba a impedir tocar el tambor con la banda de música en el espectáculo del descanso.

So my family and I worked with an engineer to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry. Así que mi familia y yo trabajamos con un ingeniero para diseñar un arnés para el tambor que fuera más ligero y fácil de transportar. So after continuous work, we made a snare drum apparatus that weighs only about 6 pounds. Así que, tras un trabajo continuo, fabricamos un aparato de caja que sólo pesa unos 2,5 kilos.

I just want to give you some more information about Progeria. Sólo quiero darte más información sobre la progeria. Chcę tylko przekazać więcej informacji o Progerii.

It affects only about 350 kids today, worldwide. Hoy en día sólo afecta a unos 350 niños en todo el mundo. So it’s pretty rare, and the effects of Progeria include: tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth, and heart disease. Así que es bastante rara, y los efectos de la Progeria incluyen: piel tirante, falta de aumento de peso, retraso en el crecimiento y enfermedades del corazón. したがって、それは非常にまれであり、早老症の影響には、きつい肌、体重増加の欠如、発育不良、および心臓病が含まれます。 Last year my Mom and her team of scientists published the first successful Progeria Treatment Study, and because of this I was interviewed on NPR, and John Hamilton asked me the question: “What is the most important thing that people should know about you?” And my answer was simply that I have a very happy life. El año pasado mi madre y su equipo de científicos publicaron el primer estudio sobre el tratamiento de la progeria que tuvo éxito, y por ello me entrevistaron en NPR, y John Hamilton me hizo la pregunta: "¿Qué es lo más importante que la gente debería saber sobre usted?". Y mi respuesta fue simplemente que tengo una vida muy feliz.

So even though there are many obstacles in my life, with a lot of them being created by Progeria, I don’t want people to feel bad for me. Por eso, aunque hay muchos obstáculos en mi vida, muchos de ellos creados por la progeria, no quiero que la gente se sienta mal por mí.

I don’t think about these obstacles all the time, and I’m able to overcome most of them anyway. No pienso en estos obstáculos todo el tiempo, y de todos modos soy capaz de superar la mayoría de ellos. So I’m here today, to share with you my philosophy for a happy life. Por eso estoy aquí hoy, para compartir contigo mi filosofía para una vida feliz.

So, for me, there are 3 aspects to this philosophy. So this is a quote from the famous Ferris Bueller. “Life moves pretty fast. "La vida va muy deprisa.

If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller “I’m okay with what I ultimately can’t do” The first aspect to my philosophy is that  I’m okay with what I ultimately can’t do because there is so much I can do. El primer aspecto de mi filosofía es que me parece bien lo que en última instancia no puedo hacer porque hay mucho que puedo hacer. 我的哲学的第一个方面是,我可以接受我最终不能做的事情,因为我能做的事情有很多。

Now people sometimes ask me questions like, “Isn’t it hard living with Progeria?” or “What daily challenges of Progeria do you face?” And I’d like to say that, even though I have Progeria, most of my time is spent thinking about things that have nothing to do with Progeria at all. Ahora la gente a veces me hace preguntas como: "¿No es duro vivir con Progeria?" o "¿A qué retos diarios de la Progeria te enfrentas?". Y me gustaría decir que, aunque tengo Progeria, la mayor parte de mi tiempo lo paso pensando en cosas que no tienen nada que ver con la Progeria en absoluto.

Now this doesn’t mean that I ignore the negative aspects of these obstacles. Esto no significa que ignore los aspectos negativos de estos obstáculos.

When I can’t do something like run a long distance, or go on an intense roller coaster, I know what I’m missing out on. Cuando no puedo hacer algo como correr una larga distancia o subirme a una montaña rusa intensa, sé lo que me estoy perdiendo. 長距離を走ったり、強烈なジェットコースターに乗ったりすることができないとき、私は何を逃しているかを知っています。 But instead, I choose to focus on the activities that I can do through things that I’m passionate about, like scouting, or music, or comic books, or any of my favorite Boston sports teams. Pero en lugar de eso, elijo centrarme en las actividades que puedo realizar a través de cosas que me apasionan, como los scouts, o la música, o los cómics, o cualquiera de mis equipos deportivos favoritos de Boston.

However, sometimes I need to find a different way to do something by making adjustments, and I want to put those things in the “can do” category. Sin embargo, a veces necesito encontrar una forma diferente de hacer algo haciendo ajustes, y quiero poner esas cosas en la categoría de "puedo hacerlo".

Kind of like you saw with the drum earlier. Algo así como lo que viste antes con el tambor. So here’s a clip with me playing Spider-Man with the Foxboro High School Marching Band at halftime a couple of years ago. Aquí tienes un vídeo en el que interpreto a Spiderman con la banda de música del instituto Foxboro en el descanso del partido hace un par de años. [Video Presentation]

Spider-Man theme song?

Thank you. All right, all right, so — That was pretty cool, and so I was able to accomplish my dream of playing snare drum with the marching band, as I believe I can do for all of my dreams. Muy bien, muy bien, así que... Eso estuvo muy bien, y así pude cumplir mi sueño de tocar el tambor con la banda de música, como creo que puedo hacer con todos mis sueños.

So hopefully, you can accomplish your dreams as well, with this outlook. Así que espero que tú también puedas cumplir tus sueños con esta perspectiva. “I surround myself with people I want to be with” "Me rodeo de la gente con la que quiero estar" The next aspect to my philosophy is that  I surround myself with people I want to be with, people of high quality . El siguiente aspecto de mi filosofía es que me rodeo de gente con la que quiero estar, gente de gran calidad. 我的哲学的下一个方面是,我周围都是我想与之相处的人,高素质的人。

I’m extremely lucky to have an amazing family, who have always supported me throughout my entire life. Tengo mucha suerte de tener una familia increíble, que siempre me ha apoyado durante toda mi vida. And I’m also really fortunate to have a really close group of friends at school. También tengo la suerte de contar con un grupo de amigos muy unido en la escuela. Now we’re kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other’s company, and we help each other out when we need to. Ahora somos un poco tontos, muchos de nosotros somos frikis de los grupos, pero disfrutamos mucho de la compañía de los demás y nos ayudamos cuando es necesario.

We see each other for who we are on the inside. Nos vemos tal y como somos por dentro. 私たちは、私たちが内側にいる人のためにお互いを見ています。 So this is us goofing off a little bit. これで少し間抜けになります。 So we’re juniors in High School now, and we can now mentor younger band members, as a single collective unit. Ahora estamos en el último año del instituto y podemos ser mentores de los miembros más jóvenes de la banda, como una única unidad colectiva. ですから、私たちは現在高校のジュニアで、今では若いバンドメンバーを単一の集合ユニットとして指導することができます。

What I love about being in a group like the band, is that the music that we make together, is true, is genuine, and it supersedes Progeria. So I don’t have to worry about that when I’m feeling so good about making music. But even having made a documentary, going on TV a couple of times, I feel like I’m at my highest point when I’m with the people that surround me every day.

They provide the real positive influences in my life, as I hope I can provide a positive influence in theirs as well. So the bottom line here is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro’s and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, positive impact. だから、ここで一番下の行は、あなたがあなたの家族に感謝し、あなたの友人を愛し、あなたの兄弟を愛し、あなたの仲間を愛し、あなたのメンターとあなたのコミュニティを認めることを願っています本当に重要な、プラスの影響。

Keep moving forward 前進し続ける The third aspect to the philosophy is –  Keep moving forward .

Here’s a quote by a man you may know, named Walt Disney, and it’s one of my favorite quotes. “Around here… we don’t look backwards for very long. "Здесь... мы не смотрим назад очень долго. “在这里……我们不会回头看太久。

We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things.”  –  Walt Disney (Meet the Robinsons) 我们不断前进,打开新的大门,做新的事情。” ——沃尔特·迪士尼(认识罗宾逊一家) I always try to have something to look forward to.

Something to strive for to make my life richer. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be anything from looking forward to the next comic book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game. However, all of these things keep me focused, and know that there’s a bright future ahead, and may get me through some difficult times that I may be having. しかし、これらのすべてが私に集中し続け、明るい未来があることを知っています。

Now this mentality includes staying in a forward thinking state of mind. 現在、このメンタリティには、前向きな思考状態にとどまることが含まれます。

I try hard not to waste energy feeling badly for myself, because when I do, I get stuck in a paradox, where there’s no room for any happiness or any other emotion. エネルギーを無駄にしないように努力しています。なぜなら、そうすると、幸せや他の感情の余地がないパラドックスに陥ってしまうからです。 Now, it’s not that I ignore when I’m feeling badly, I kind of accept it, I let it in, so that I can acknowledge it, and do what I need to do to move past it.

When I was younger, I wanted to be an engineer.

I wanted to be an inventor who would catapult the world into a better future. Maybe this came from my love of Legos, and the freedom of expression that I felt when I was building with them. And this was also derived from my family and my mentors, who always make me feel whole, and good about myself.

Now today my ambitions have changed a little bit, I’d like to go into the field of Biology, maybe cell biology, or genetics, or biochemistry, or really anything.

This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away. I feel that no matter what I choose to become, I believe that I can change the world. 自分が何になろうとも、世界を変えることができると信じています。 And as I’m striving to change the world, I will be happy. About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called “Life According to Sam”.

That was a pretty great experience, but it was also four years ago. And like anyone, my views on many things have changed, and hopefully matured, like my potential career choice. However, some things have stayed the same throughout that time.

Like my mentality, and philosophy towards life. So I would like to show you a clip of my younger self from the film, that I feel embodies that philosophy.

[Video] I know more about it genetically. 私はそれについてもっと遺伝的に知っています。

So it’s less of an embodiment now. ですから、今では具体化されていません。 Так что теперь это меньше воплощение. It used to be like this thing that prevents me from doing all this stuff, that causes other kids to die, that causes everybody to be stressed, and now it’s a protein that is abnormal, that weakens the structure of cells. 以前は、このようなことをして、他の子供たちを死なせ、すべての人にストレスを与え、今では異常なタンパク質であり、細胞の構造を弱めます。 So, and it takes a burden off of me because now I don’t have to think about Progeria as an entity.

Okay, pretty good, huh? So, as you can see I’ve been thinking this way for many years.

But I’d never really had to apply all of these aspects of my philosophy to the test at one time, until last January. しかし、私は昨年の1月まで、私の哲学のこれらすべての側面を一度にテストに適用する必要はありませんでした。 I was pretty sick, I had a chest cold, and I was in the hospital for a few days, and I was secluded from all of the aspects of my life that I felt made me, me, that kind of gave me my identity. But knowing that I was going to get better, and looking forward to a time that I would feel good again, helped me to keep moving forward.

And sometimes I had to be brave, and it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes I faltered, I had bad days, but I realized that being brave isn’t supposed to be easy. And for me, I feel it’s the key way to keep moving forward.

So, all in all, I don’t waste energy feeling bad for myself. I surround myself with people that I want to be with, and I keep moving forward. So with this philosophy, I hope that all of you, regardless of your obstacles, can have a very happy life as well.

Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice –- Never miss a party if you can help it. ああ、ちょっと待って、もう1つのアドバイスを待ってください。 О, подождите, подождите секунду, еще один совет - никогда не пропускайте вечеринки, если можете помочь. My school’s homecoming dance is tomorrow night, and I will be there.

Thank you very much.