How an obese town lost a million pounds | Mick Cornett

Translator: Aida Musai Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

How many of you have been to Oklahoma City?

Sa prej jush kane qene ndonjehere ne Oklahoma City?

Raise your hand. Yeah?

Ngirini duart. Po?

How many of you have not been to Oklahoma City

Sa prej jush nuk kane qene asnjehere ne Oklahoma City

and have no idea who I am? (Laughter)

dhe nuk e kane idene se kush jam une? (te qeshura)

Most of you. Let me give you a little bit of background.

Qenka shumica. Me lejoni pra t'ju tregoj pak nga historia.

Oklahoma City started in the most

Qyteti i Oklahoma City lindi ne menyren

unique way imaginable.

me te cuditshme qe mund te imagjinoni.

Back on a spring day in 1889,

Ne nje dite pranvere te vitit 1889,

the federal government held what they called

qeveria e atehershme organizoi

a land run.

nje vrap te lire.

They literally lined up the settlers

Ata i vendosen "pushtuesit"

along an imaginary line,

pergjate nje linje imagjinare,

and they fired off a gun,

goditen me pistolete ne ajer,

and the settlers roared across the countryside

dhe pushtuesit vrapuan neper fusha,

and put down a stake,

dhe ngulen nga nje shkop,

and wherever they put down that stake,

keshtu toka ku ata ngulen shkopin

that was their new home.

u be shtepia e tyre.

And at the end of the very first day,

Ne fund te asaj dite te pare,

the population of Oklahoma City

banoret e Oklahoma City

had gone from zero to 10,000,

nga 0 u bene 10.000,

and our planning department

gje per te cilen departamenti yne i planifikimit

is still paying for that.

vazhdon te paguaje edhe sot.

The citizens got together on that first day

Qytetaret u mblodhen ate dite

and elected a mayor.

dhe zgjodhen nje kryetar bashkie.

And then they shot him.

Pastaj e qelluan.

(Laughter)

(te qeshura)

That's not really all that funny

Nuk me duket aq shume argetuese

-- (Laughter) --

(te qeshura)

but it allows me to see what type of audience

por kjo me lejon te kuptoj se me c'lloj publiku

I'm dealing with, so I appreciate the feedback.

kam te bej, keshtu qe ju falenderoj per reagimin.

The 20th century was fairly kind to Oklahoma City.

Shekulli i 20-te ishte mjaft i mire per Oklahoma City.

Our economy was based on commodities,

Ekonomia jone bazohej tek shitja e te mirave,

so the price of cotton or the price of wheat,

pra tek cmimi i pambukut apo grurit,

and ultimately the price of oil and natural gas.

e me pas tek cmimi i naftes dhe gazit natyror.

And along the way, we became a city

Dhe nderkohe ne u beme nje qytet

of innovation.

plot inovacion.

The shopping cart was invented in Oklahoma City.

Karroca e pazarit u shpik ne Oklahoma City.

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)

The parking meter, invented in Oklahoma City.

Matesi i parkimit eshte shpikur gjithashtu ne Oklahoma City.

You're welcome.

Ju lutem.

Having an economy, though,

E megjithate, nje ekonomi

that relates to commodities can give you some ups and some downs,

qe lidhet me te mirat mund te kete te mirat e te keqiat e saj,

and that was certainly the case in Oklahoma City's history.

dhe keshtu ndodhi edhe ne historine e Oklahoma City.

In the 1970s, when it appeared

Ne vitet 70', kur u be e qarte

that the price of energy would never retreat,

se cmimi i energjise nuk do ulej me

our economy was soaring,

ekonomia jone po fluturonte,

and then in the early 1980s, it cratered quickly.

por ne fillim te viteve 80', ajo u fundos me shpejtesi.

The price of energy dropped.

Cmimi i energjise ra.

Our banks began to fail.

Bankat tona filluan te binin me te.

Before the end of the decade,

Perpara fundit te asaj dekade,

100 banks had failed in the state of Oklahoma.

ne shtetin e Oklahomes kishin falimentuar 100 banka.

There was no bailout on the horizon.

Ne horizont nuk dukej asnje shenje shpetimi.

Our banking industry, our oil and gas industry,

Industria jone bankare, industria e naftes apo e gazit,

our commercial real estate industry,

sektori i pasurive te paluajtshme,

were all at the bottom of the economic scale.

te gjitha ishin ne fund te shkalles ekonomike.

Young people were leaving Oklahoma City in droves

Te rinjte po largoheshin me turma nga Oklahoma City

for Washington and Dallas and Houston and New York and Tokyo,

drejt Washington dhe Dallas, apo Houston, New York e Tokio,

anywhere where they could find a job that measured up

drejt vendeve ku mund te gjenin nje pune qe perputhej me

to their educational attainment,

arritjet e tyre akademike,

because in Oklahoma City, the good jobs just weren't there.

sepse ne Oklahoma City nuk kishte me pune te mira.

But along at the end of the '80s

Por rreth fundit te viteve 80'

came an enterprising businessman

nje biznesmen me iniciative

who became mayor named Ron Norick.

u be kryetar bashkie, quhej Ron Norick.

Ron Norick eventually figured out

Ron Norick kuptoi se

that the secret to economic development

sekreti i zhvillimit ekonomik

wasn't incentivizing companies up front,

nuk ishte dhenia paraprake e incentivave per kompanite,

it was about creating a place where businesses wanted to locate,

por krijimi i nje qyteti ku bizneset do te donin te vendoseshin,

and so he pushed an initiative called MAPS

keshtu ai krijoi nje iniciative te quajtur MAPS

that basically was a penny-on-the-dollar sales tax

qe praktikisht ishte taske per nje cent per cdo dollar

to build a bunch of stuff.

per te ndertuar disa gjera.

It built a new sports arena,

Ai ndertoi nje stadium te ri,

a new canal downtown,

nje kanal te ri ne qender te qytetit,

it fixed up our performing arts center,

rregulloi qendren tone te performances artistike,

a new baseball stadium downtown,

nje stadium te ri bejsbolli ne qender,

a lot of things to improve the quality of life.

shume gjera qe do te permiresonin cilesine e jetes.

And the economy indeed seemed to start

Dhe ekonomia dukej vertet se po rimerrte veten

showing some signs of life.

duke treguar shenja jete.

The next mayor came along.

Me pas erdhi pasuesi i tij.

He started MAPS for Kids,

Ai nisi MAPS per femijet,

rebuilt the entire inner city school system,

rindertoi gjithe sistemin shkollor brenda qytetit,

all 75 buildings either built anew or refurbished.

rindertoi dhe rinovoi te 75 ndertesat.

And then, in 2004,

Pastaj, ne 2004-en,

in this rare collective lack of judgment

per shkak te nje mungese gjykimi ne mase

bordering on civil disobedience,

qe arrinte pothuajse ne mosbindje civile,

the citizens elected me mayor.

qytetaret me zgjodhen mua si kryetar bashkie.

Now the city I inherited

Qyteti qe une trashegova

was just on the verge

ishte gati duke u zgjuar

of coming out of its slumbering economy,

nga ekonomia e tij e fjetur

and for the very first time,

dhe per here te pare

we started showing up on the lists.

ne filluam te shfaqemi neper lista.

Now you know the lists I'm talking about.

Ju e dini se per cilat lista e kam fjalen.

The media and the Internet

Mediat dhe interneti

love to rank cities.

kane pasion listimin e qyteteve.

And in Oklahoma City,

Ne Oklahoma City,

we'd never really been on lists before.

s'kishim qene asnjehere ne ndonje liste.

So I thought it was kind of cool

Keshtu une mendova se kjo ishte nje gje e mire

when they came out with these positive lists and we were on there.

te ishte pjese e listave pozitive qe ata nxirrnin.

We weren't anywhere close to the top,

Ishim shume larg kreut te listes,

but we were on the list, we were somebody.

por te pakten ishim aty, ishim dikushi.

Best city to get a job,

Qyteti me i mire per te gjetur pune,

best city to start a business,

qyteti me i mire per te nisur nje biznes,

best downtown --

qendra me e mire...

Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City.

And then came the list

Pastaj doli lista

of the most obese cities in the country.

e qyteteve me obezitetin me larte ne vend.

And there we were.

Ne ishim aty.

Now I like to point out that we were on that list

Dua te theksoj se ne ate liste na shoqeronin

with a lot of really cool places.

edhe shume qytete te famshme.

(Laughter)

(te qeshura)

Dallas and Houston and New Orleans

Dallas, Houston dhe New Orleans

and Atlanta and Miami.

apo Atlanta dhe Miami.

You know, these are cities that, typically,

Ne pergjithesi keto jane qytete me te cilat

you're not embarrassed to be associated with.

gjithkush do te donte te krahasohej.

But nonetheless, I didn't like being on the list.

E megjithate, mua nuk me pelqeu te isha pjese e asaj liste.

And about that time, I got on the scales.

Ato kohe u ngjita ne peshore.

And I weighed 220 pounds.

Peshoja 110 kg.

And then I went to this website

U futa ne nje website

sponsored by the federal government,

te sponsorizuar nga qeveria,

and I typed in my height, I typed in my weight,

dhe hodha gjatesine time, peshen,

and I pushed Enter,

dhe shtypa butonin Enter,

and it came back and said "obese."

doli nje faqe qe shkruante "obez".

I thought, "What a stupid website."

Mendova, "C'sit koti qenka ky."

(Laughter)

(te qeshura)

"I'm not obese. I would know if I was obese."

"Une nuk jam obez. Po te isha do t'a dija."

And then I started getting honest with myself

Dhe pastaj fillova te tregohesha i sinqerte me veten

about what had become my lifelong struggle with obesity,

ne lidhje me luften time te stergjate me obezitetin,

and I noticed this pattern,

dhe vura re nje fenomen,

that I was gaining about two or three pounds a year,

une shtoja rreth nje apo dy kilogram ne vit,

and then about every 10 years, I'd drop 20 or 30 pounds.

dhe cdo 10 vjet humbisja rreth 15-17 kg.

And then I'd do it again.

Dhe pastaj rifilloja.

And I had this huge closet full of clothes,

Kisha nje dollap plot me rroba,

and I could only wear a third of it at any one time,

ne cdo moment te dhene une mund te vishja vetem nje te treten e rrobave,

and only I knew which part of the closet I could wear.

dhe vetem une e dija se cilen pjese te dollapit mund te vishja.

But it all seemed fairly normal, going through it.

Por teksa koha kalonte, kjo gje dukej dicka normale.

Well, I finally decided I needed to lose weight,

Me ne fund, vendosa se kisha nevoje te humbisja ne peshe,

and I knew I could because I'd done it so many times before,

e dija qe mundesha sepse e kisha bere kete edhe me pare,

so I simply stopped eating as much.

keshtu qe fillova te mos haja me aq shume.

I had always exercised.

Une jam marre gjithmone me palester.

That really wasn't the part of the equation

Kjo nuk ishte nje nga pjeset e ekuacionit

that I needed to work on.

qe me shqetesonte.

But I had been eating 3,000 calories a day,

Por une merrja cdo dite 3.000 kalori,

and I cut it to 2,000 calories a day,

ndaj vendosa te marr vetem 2.000 kalori ne dite,

and the weight came off. I lost about a pound a week

dhe fillova te humbas peshe, gati gjysem kile ne jave

for about 40 weeks.

per rreth 40 jave.

Along the way, though,

Teksa e beja kete,

I started examining my city,

fillova te vezhgoj qytetin tim,

its culture, its infrastructure,

kulturen, infrastrukturen e tij,

trying to figure out why our specific city

duke tentuar te kuptoja pse qyteti yne

seemed to have a problem with obesity.

dukej se kishte probleme me obezitetin.

And I came to the conclusion

Arrita ne perfundimin

that we had built an incredible quality of life

se ne kishim krijuar nje standard te larte jetese

if you happen to be a car.

per makinat.

(Laughter)

(te qeshura)

But if you happen to be a person,

Por nese ti ishe njeri,

you are combatting the car seemingly at every turn.

duhej te luftoje me makinat pothuajse ne cdo cep.

Our city is very spread out.

Qyteti yne eshte shume i gjere.

We have a great intersection of highways,

Kemi shume kryqezime autostradash.

I mean, literally no traffic congestion in Oklahoma City to speak of.

Ne te vertete, ne Oklahoma City nuk mund te flasesh per trafik te renduar.

And so people live far, far away.

Keshtu njerezit jetojne larg, shume larg.

Our city limits are enormous, 620 square miles,

Kufijte e qytetit tone jane te stermedhenj, 1600 km katrore,

but 15 miles is less than 15 minutes.

por 24 km i pershkon ne me pak se 15 minuta.

You literally can get a speeding ticket

Deri aty sa mund te marresh gjobe per tejkalim shpejtesie,

during rush hour in Oklahoma City.

gjate oreve me me shume trafik ne Oklahoma.

And as a result, people tend to spread out.

Ja pse njerezit kane prirjen te largohen.

Land's cheap.

Toka eshte e lire.

We had also not required developers

Ne gjithashtu kishim shume shume kohe

to build sidewalks on new developments for a long, long time.

qe nuk i kerkonim ndertuesve te vendosnin trotuare ne zonat e reja.

We had fixed that, but it had been relatively recently,

E kemi rregulluar kete, por vetem se fundmi,

and there were literally 100,000

pra ndoshta me shume se 100.000

or more homes into our inventory

shtepi ne inventarin tone

in neighborhoods that had virtually no level of walkability.

ndodheshin ne lagje qe ku teorikisht nuk mund te ecej.

And as I tried to examine

U perpoqa te kuptoj

how we might deal with obesity,

se si mund menaxhonim obezitetin,

and was taking all of these elements into my mind,

dhe mora parasysh gjithe keto elemente.

I decided that the first thing we need to do

Vendosa qe gjeja e pare qe na duhej

was have a conversation.

ishte te flisnim per kete.

You see, in Oklahoma City,

E pra, ne Oklahoma City,

we weren't talking about obesity.

ne nuk po flisnim per obezitetin.

And so, on New Year's Eve of 2007,

Keshtu, diten e fundit te vitit 2007,

I went to the zoo,

une shkova tek kopshti zoologjik,

and I stood in front of the elephants,

qendrova para elefanteve,

and I said, "This city is going on a diet,

dhe thashe, "Ky qytet do te filloje dieten,

and we're going to lose a million pounds."

dhe ne do te humbasim 500 mije kg."

Well, that's when all hell broke loose.

Epo, aty u hap qielli.

(Laughter)

(te qeshura)

The national media

Menjehere mediat e vendit

gravitated toward this story immediately,

u terhoqen si me magnet nga kjo histori,

and they really could have gone with it one of two ways.

dhe kishin dy mundesi per te folur per te.

They could have said,

Mund te thoshin,

"This city is so fat

"Ky qytet eshte kaq i shendoshe

that the mayor had to put them on a diet."

saqe kryetari i bashkise po e detyron te mbaje diete."

But fortunately, the consensus was,

Por fatmiresisht, konsensusi i tyre qe,

"Look, this is a problem in a lot of places.

"Shikoni, ky eshte nje problem i perhapur ne shume vende.

This is a city that's wanting to do something about it."

Ky eshte nje qytet qe po perpiqet t'i jape zgjdhje."

And so they started helping us

Keshtu ata filluan te na ndihmonin

drive traffic to the website.

per te terhequr njerezit drejt website-it tone.

Now, the web address was

Adresa e sitit ishte

thiscityisgoingonadiet.com.

thiscityisgoingonadiet.com.

And I appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"

Dhe une dola tek "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"

one weekday morning to talk about the initiative,

nje mengjes, dhe fola per kete iniciative,

and on that day, 150,000 visits

e ate dite siti yne u vizitua

were placed to our website.

nga 150.000 njerez.

People were signing up,

Njerezit filluan te regjistroheshin,

and so the pounds started to add up,

keshtu kilogramet filluan te shtoheshin,

and the conversation that I thought

dhe biseda qe e konsideroja

was so important to have was starting to take place.

aq te rendesishme, filloi te fitonte terren.

It was taking place inside the homes,

Po diskutohej brenda shtepive,

mothers and fathers talking about it with their kids.

nenat dhe baballaret filluan te flisnin me femijet e tyre.

It was taking place in churches.

Po diskutohej neper kisha.

Churches were starting their own running groups

Kishat po fillonin grupet e tyre te vrapit

and their own support groups

dhe grupet e suportit

for people who were dealing with obesity.

per njerezit qe vuanin nga obeziteti.

Suddenly, it was a topic worth discussing at schools

Papritmas kjo teme filloi te diskutohej neper shkolla

and in the workplace.

dhe ne vendin e punes.

And the large companies, they typically have

E dini, kompanite e medha kane gjithnje

wonderful wellness programs,

programe te mrekullueshme sportive,

but the medium-sized companies

por kompanite e mesme

that typically fall between the cracks on issues like this,

te cilat pergjithesisht nuk bejne asgje ne kete fushe,

they started to get engaged and used our program

filluan te angazhoheshin dhe te perdornin programin tone

as a model for their own employees

si model per punonjesit e tyre

to try and have contests to see

dhe filluan te organizonin gara per te pare

who might be able to deal with their obesity situation

se cilet ishin personat qe e perballonin obezitetin e tyre

in a way that could be proactively beneficial to others.

ne nje menyre qe mund t'i ndihmonte edhe te tjeret.

And then came the next stage of the equation.

Pastaj arritem ne fazen tjeter te ekuacionit.

It was time to push what I called MAPS 3.

Ishte koha te vinim ne pune ate qe une e quajta MAPS 3.

Now MAPS 3, like the other two programs,

MAPS 3, ashtu si edhe dy programet e meparshme,

had had an economic development motive behind it,

ekzistonte per te nxitur zhvillimin ekonomik,

but along with the traditional economic development tasks

por paralele me detyrat qe lidheshin me zhvillimin ekonomik

like building a new convention center,

si per shembull ndertimi i nje qendre te re kongresesh,

we added some health-related infrastructure

ne i shtuam planit edhe ndertimin e disa infrastrukturave

to the process.

qe lidheshin me shendetin.

We added a new central park, 70 acres in size,

Ndertuam nje park te ri me siperfaqe 70 hektare,

to be right downtown in Oklahoma City.

pikerisht ne qender te Oklahoma City.

We're building a downtown streetcar

Ne qender po ndertojme gjithashtu nje linje trami

to try and help the walkability formula

qe te na ndihmoje me formulen e ecjes

for people who choose to live in the inner city

drejtuar njerezve qe zgjedhin te jetojne ne qender te qytetit

and help us create the density there.

qe na ndihmon te krijojme aty densitet me te larte.

We're building senior health and wellness centers

Po ndertojme qendra shendetesore dhe mireqenieje per te moshuarit

throughout the community.

neper gjithe komunitetin.

We put some investments on the river

Beme disa investime edhe tek lumi

that had originally been invested upon

i cili kishte thithur disa investime ne

in the original MAPS,

projektin origjinal MAPS,

and now we are currently in the final stages

ndersa tani jem ne fazen finale

of developing the finest venue in the world

te ndertimit te qendres me te mire ne bote

for the sports of canoe, kayak and rowing.

per sportin e kanoes, kajakut dhe kanotazhit.

We hosted the Olympic trials last spring.

Pranveren e kaluar zhvilluam provat e garave Olimpike.

We have Olympic-caliber events coming to Oklahoma City,

Se shpejti ne Oklahoma City do te mberrijne evente te shkalles Olimpike,

and athletes from all over the world moving in,

dhe atlete nga e gjithe bota po transferohen aty

along with inner city programs

si pjese e programeve per qendren e qytetit

to get kids more engaged in these types of recreational activities

qe synojne angazhimin e femijeve ne aktivitetet

that are a little bit nontraditional.

qe jane paksa te pazakonta.

We also, with another initiative that was passed,

Gjithashtu, me ane te nje projekti tjeter qe u miratua se fundmi,

are building hundreds of miles of new sidewalks

ne po ndertojme me qindra km trotuaresh

throughout the metro area.

ne gjithe zonen e qytetit.

We're even going back into some

Gjithashtu po i rikthehemi disa

inner city situations

zonave qendrore

where we had built neighborhoods

ku kishim ndertuar lagje,

and we had built schools

kishim ndertuar shkolla,

but we had not connected the two.

por nuk i kishim lidhur ato me njera-tjetren.

We had built libraries and we had built neighborhoods,

Kishim ndertuar biblioteka, kishim ndertuar lagje banimi,

but we had never really connected the two

por nuk i kishim lidhur asnjehere keto te dyja

with any sort of walkability.

me trotuare ku mund te ecej.

Through yet another funding source,

Permes nje burimi tjeter fondesh,

we're redesigning all of our inner city streets

ne po ridizenjojme rruget e brendshme te qytetit

to be more pedestrian-friendly.

ne menyre qe te jene me te rehatshme per kalimtaret.

Our streets were really wide,

Rruget tona ishin shume te gjera,

and you'd push the button to allow you to walk across,

dhe kur ti shtypje butonin qe te jepte te drejten te kaloje,

and you had to run in order to get there in time.

duhej te vrapoje per te arritur anen tjeter ne kohe.

But now we've narrowed the streets,

Por tani ne i kemi ngushtuar rruget,

highly landscaped them, making them more pedestrian-friendly,

kemi mbjelle me peme ne to, duke i bere me te pershtatshme per kalimtaret,

really a redesign, rethinking the way

eshte vertet nje ridizenjim, nje ndryshim ne menyren

we build our infrastructure,

se si po e ndertojme infrastrukturen tone,

designing a city around people and not cars.

duke e dizenjuar qytetin rreth njerezve e jo makinave.

We're completing our bicycle trail master plan.

Ne perfunduam masterplanin e pistave te bicikletave.

We'll have over 100 miles

Do te kemi rreth 160 km pista

when we're through building it out.

dhe se shpejti do te perfundojme ndertimin e tyre.

And so you see this culture starting to shift

Dhe ti sheh se si kultura po merr nje kthese

in Oklahoma City.

ne Oklahoma City.

And lo and behold, the demographic changes

Dhe nuk eshte aspak cudi qe ndryshimet demografike

that are coming with it are very inspiring.

qe vijne si rezultat i kesaj jane vertete frymezuese.

Highly educated twentysomethings

Njerez tek te njezetat me edukim te larte

are moving to Oklahoma City from all over the region

po transferohen drejt Oklahomes nga i gjithe rajoni

and, indeed, even from further away, in California.

si dhe nga shume larg, nga Kalifornia.

When we reached a million pounds,

Kur arritem te humbasim 500 mije kg,

in January of 2012,

kjo ndodhi ne Janar 2012,

I flew to New York with some our participants

une fluturova drejt New York-ut me disa pjesemarres

who had lost over 100 pounds,

qe kishin humbur me shume se 50 kg,

whose lives had been changed,

jetet e te cileve kishin ndryshuar shume,

and we appeared on the Rachael Ray show,

dhe dolem tek Rachael Ray Show,

and then that afternoon, I did a round of media in New York

dhe po ate pasdite, une dhashe nje sere intervistash ne New York

pushing the same messages

duke shperndare mesazhin qe

that you're accustomed to hearing about obesity and the dangers of it.

ju e njihni mire ne lidhje me obezitetin dhe rreziqet e tij.

And I went into the lobby of Men's Fitness magazine,

Keshtu ndodhesha ne hollin e revistes Men's Fitness,

the same magazine that had put us on that list

revista qe na kishte perfshire ne listen e famshme

five years before.

pese vite me pare.

And as I'm sitting in the lobby waiting to talk to the reporter,

Dhe teksa rrija ulur ne holl duke pritur te flisja me gazetarin,

I notice there's a magazine copy

vura re se mbi tavoline gjendej

of the current issue right there on the table,

revista e muajit te fundit.

and I pick it up, and I look at the headline

E mora ne dore dhe lexova titujt.

across the top, and it says,

Ne fillim te faqes shkruhej,

"America's Fattest Cities: Do You Live in One?"

"Qytetet me te shendosha ne Amerike: A jeton ti ne njerin prej tyre?"

Well, I knew I did,

Epo, une e dija qe po,

so I picked up the magazine

keshtu e hapra revisten

and I began to look,

dhe fillova te lexoja,

and we weren't on it.

dhe ne nuk ishim ne ate liste.

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)

Then I looked on the list of fittest cities,

Pastaj lexova listen e qyteteve me ne forme,

and we were on that list.

dhe ne ishim ne ate liste.

We were on the list as the 22nd fittest city in the United States.

Ne ate liste ne ishim qyteti i 22-te me ne forme ne Shtetet e Bashkuara.

Our state health statistics are doing better.

Statistikat mbi shendetin tone jane shume me pozitive.

Granted, we have a long way to go.

Megjithate, kemi ende shume per te bere.

Health is still not something

Shendeti ende nuk eshte dicka

that we should be proud of in Oklahoma City,

me te cilen te mund te mburremi ne Oklahoma,

but we seem to have turned the cultural shift

por duket se ia kemi arritur te ndryshojme mendesine

of making health a greater priority.

duke i dhene shendetit nje prioritet shume me te madh.

And we love the idea of the demographics

Dhe ne i adhurojme te dhenat demografike

of highly educated twentysomethings,

qe na tregojne se njezete-vjecaret me edukim te larte

people with choices, choosing Oklahoma City

njerez qe kane mundesi te zgjedhin, kane zgjedhur Oklahoma City

in large numbers.

dhe shume prej tyre e kane bere.

We have the lowest unemployment in the United States,

Ne kemi perqindjen me te ulet te papunesise ne SHBA,

probably the strongest economy in the United States.

jemi ndoshta ekonomia me e forte ne vend.

And if you're like me, at some point

Nese edhe ju ashtu si une,

in your educational career,

gjate shkolles

you were asked to read a book called

ju eshte kerkuar te lexoni nje liber te titulluar

"The Grapes of Wrath."

"Terbimi" (Grapes of Wrath):

Oklahomans leaving for California

Njerez qe largoheshin nga Oklahoma drejt Kalifornise

in large numbers for a better future.

ne turma drejt nje te ardhmeje me te mire.

When we look at the demographic shifts

Sot, kur shohim ndryshimin demografik,

of people coming from the west,

njerezit qe transferohen ketu nga perendimi,

it appears that what we're seeing now

duket se sot po shohim

is the wrath of grapes.

qetesimin e terbimit.

(Laughter)

(te qeshura)

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)

The grandchildren are coming home.

Niperit po kthehen ne shtepi.

You've been a great audience and very attentive.

Ishit nje publik i mrekullueshem dhe shume i vemendshem.

Thank you very much for having me here.

Faleminderit per ftesen.

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)