My name is José Zaglul Slon, 
and even though I don't look like it, I'm from San Ramon.
Look, I even made a rhyme! 
I am proud to be from San Ramon.
My parents are immigrants from Lebanon and
it was in this beautiful western province of Costa Rica
that my parents chose to build their life 
after they got married, and it is where I was born.
When I was almost a year old, my parents decided to return to Lebanon with my three siblings and me.
It's true that I learned to walk on a ship, so that's why I have a funny gait and sometimes people think I'm half drunk
but I can assure you folks that it is just
how I walk, due to the place where I first learned.
We lived in Lebanon for five years and I almost froze 
(that's me up there)
and after those five years, 
my parents' business wasn't going so well.
My father Vladimir is from the same
place as Khalil Gibran the author of The Prophet
-in fact he wanted to name me Gibran
but my mother wouldn't let him.
He dreamed that his children would study, 
and when he came to the Americas as a young single man,
he found out that the Statute of Liberty wasn't in Limon 
but the boat dropped him off there anyways.
Later, he met my mother and they got married, 
but that is the story of immigrants.
He wanted his children to go to school 
but the economic situation wasn't going to allow that to happen.
So, we went back to Costa Rica, this time with one more little brother
(we were five siblings).
For that, I am very grateful, 
because I know how education can change people.
For example, comparing my parent's generation to today, 
it is a complete transformation.
If I hadn't been given that opportunity,
 maybe my story would have been totally different, 
and that is why I am so passionate about education.
So we returned to Costa Rica, and my father
barely had enough to pay our fares on the ship.
With five thousand colones to start a new life in Costa Rica,
we went back to live in San Ramon
where I lived spent my childhood and adolescence. 
I went to elementary school and public high school,
when I graduated from college I decided to return to Lebanon
for what I thought would be an adventure of one year,
but became an adventure of eight.
It was enough time to enter the American University of Beirut,
where I earned my undergraduate and graduate degrees. 
In the university there was a huge passion for politics;
I met several political leaders and activists, and the students themselves were very active in the reality of the Middle East
and were definitely emotionally involved. 
This time allowed me to explore in-depth the reality of the Middle East
And especially the reality of Lebanon.
I had the opportunity to see the transition
from a Lebanon at peace to a Lebanon at war.
Like Costa Rica, 
Lebanon was called the "Switzerland" of the Middle East,
and suddenly, without its citizens realizing, 
this country of peace, prosperity and joy
become a country of constant armed conflict.
When there is a conflict situation
it polarizes the population and the country.
When there is bloodshed, the possibility of
restoring peace takes generations
And no one would wish this upon any country in the world.
It is happening more and more often.
And all this happened because the credibility of the political class, 
which made arrangements behind people's backs, was lost.
Political parties were more interested in the game itself
that the societal welfare of the country in general.
There was corruption at the highest levels and it was believed 
that with government cronyism, things would improve.
And of course, there were many countries   
that had an interest in Lebanon
And world powers that played a dishonest game
in this geopolitically important region of the world,
where so many injustices have been committed.
This experience plus what I have learned while living in Costa Rica
has made me reflect about what is important in life, 
or at least what should be important to us.
I realized that a country could choose 
between chaos and prosperity,
depending upon the vision and the values of their leaders, 
and I want to emphasize the word "values"
and also the education and training of every one of us,
because we are all part of this.
Sometimes I actually feel scared because in
Costa Rica we are very confident,
and if we aren't careful the same thing that happened
in Lebanon could happen here.
You can tell me that the conditions are totally different,
but that's what we said in Lebanon.
While our neighboring countries were at war, 
we continued to party and celebrate
and we thought nothing could happen 
to the Switzerland of the Middle East.
We shouldn't feel so confident
that the same thing couldn't happen to us.
Of course, leaders are very important in preventing
things like this from happening,
but it is also how we act and participate as a responsible
society, seeking the common good
and not our own personal wealth, or that of a company or a political party. How can we make it so that the whole population benefits?
In the same situation, nations with similar conditions 
have chosen between peace and prosperity or war and poverty.
To prevent the latter from happening, 
education is incredibly important
and most of all, values. We can have an educated country,
but without values it is worth nothing.
Education at home, in elementary schools,
in high schools and in universities
Is the most important instrument we have for creating educated citizens and instilling in every one of these citizens the fundamental values of love, respect and honesty.
I am sure that none of you disagree on this point.
In the last few years, the education in 
Costa Rica has been deteriorating
and we have stopped reinforcing our values. 
This limits not only the training of our citizens,
our capacity for a future filled with hope, the creation
of new generations willing to lead the future of our country
and to participate in the development of their communities,
to make everyday work a task of efficiency and honesty 
and participate in the challenge of governing.
Now I want to stop and take a few minutes
to talk about education in Costa Rica.
I will speak mainly of university education because college graduates are generally political leaders, leaders of private 
enterprise and leaders of communities.
The education that was conceived in Costa Rica as a way to promote social advancement and individual improvement 
is not the same as it once was.
Students with more resources 
have a better chance of going to university,
And, we give those with fewer resources a lot of problems
because we choose students based on an entrance examination.
Students from urban public schools
have courses to prepare them for this exam,
while people in rural areas do not have that opportunity,
so the best tool we have to eradicate poverty 
and improve social conditions
is used to strengthen the traditional model: 
those who have a lot are given more 
and those who have the least are given limited opportunities.
I have had the great privilege of working
in academia for the past 35 years-I started at age five-
with the last twenty years at EARTH University.
I have seen that young people
who are given a good, solid academic education,
which is enhanced by values, are willing to
return to their community to improve their lives and transform 
the society from which they come.
At, EARTH we give 60% of our students
food and lodging and even pay their way to campus.
Our professors go out and look for our students
in the most remote areas of the Amazon,
and we have students from 36 countries 
in Africa and Latina America.
We have seen that some students have to walk hours 
to get to school, they don't have electricity at home,
they have to milk cows before going to class 
and still, they have overcome these barriers.
We have seen that they can become excellent
students if given the opportunity.
Many students who come to EARTH are the first people in
their families or their communities to go to college
and we know that if we encourage
and support them, they become excellent students.
How many of you have gone to a university where the professor says
"Hey, you three over there-look to your right, and now look to
your left. Only one of you is going to pass this class."?
Well, that day it was me that failed that class.
But if we do things the opposite way and motivate and help 
our young people, they transform into excellent students
and professionals that are willing to make a change and contribute to society home and return to change their communities.
We prepare them as entrepreneurs, 
but it is not "business as usual."
We want them to create businesses that are different, 
not like how we are doing it now.
Of course the economic part is important but also the social
and environmental impact is very important,
Not just the accumulation of wealth.  
We have tried to take away the word "competition"
(I'm sure you guys are going to hit me on my way out)
because we don't believe in the traditional competition 
where only one person wins and everyone else loses.
We want to find ways to do business and live together so that
everyone wins and so we don't see these differences
between the "haves" and "have nots" and the many who die, 
as Dr. Artavia said, from diarrhea that could easily be cured.
It requires values and a commitment beyond
the material wealth of our world today,
And we prefer to say that education is not enough.
Lebanon is very educated and has hundreds of professional,
but what failed us in Lebanon was love.
What is lacking in the Middle East is love: love for dialogue, 
love for forgiveness, love and understanding to show 
that we are all children of the earth.
It is not worth teaching sciences 
if we don't teach values,
and I want to talk to you all about these values: 
the most important is love,
and I'm sure that you are all looking at me a little funny  because in academia, in politics and in business, we are scared to talk about love.
Love is the most important of all values,
with love we are able to live happily and make others happy,
to build a better society together 
and view the essence of a human being
regardless of their color, race or religion, to see the spirit 
in each of us and support a society of peace and harmony.
I want to say to all of you that, 
if we have love, we have hope.
If we have hope, we can dream,
and with these dreams we can transform this country 
and make it the country we all want it to be.
Thank you very much.
