You can choose to stand for love – TEDx Talk

On November 29th, 2016, I am of 14 speakers and artists to participate to TEDxSaxionUniversity’s Conference entitled “Brave New World” at Deventer’s Theatre.

My talk “Every day, every second, you can choose to stand for love” tells the genesis of the poem “For Love” that I wrote the day after terrorist attacks in Brussels to deal with tragic loss, powerlessness, and despair.   The poem was inspired by my friend, Johan, who was killed in the attacks. The poem counters the ripples of violence with its own ripples of love, hope and strength, thanks to the spontaneous translations of the poem (60 languages 9 months later) and the many people it touched.

With the curators of the conference, we invited students of Saxion University to say the poem in their mother tongue at the end of my talk.  Spending the day with them and sharing more about the attacks, Johan, the poem and its effects was a true blessing.  It is also inspiring to see how universal the message of the poem is.  And the audience was deeply moved both by the talk and by the students.

Blogging for TEDxSaxion, Jusra wrote  ’’ Dorothy Oger is what I would like to call a pure soul. (…) Not only did Dorothy tell us the poem, she invited several students who each told a part of the poem in their native language. One poem + several languages = an audience in awe.”