President Obama Quotes Six Year-Old Scarsdale Boy in U.N. Speech

Does anyone know Alex? In his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday September 20th, President Obama quoted a six year-old boy named Alex from Scarsdale. In remarks about the crisis in Aleppo, Syria, Obama read from a letter he received from Alex who invited Omran Dagneesh, an injured Syrian boy to come live with him and his family and to be his brother.

We doubt that Alex knew his words would be read at the Leader's Summit on Refugees at the United Nations when he wrote them – but he does us all proud.

Watch the video here – and read the transcript of Obama's speech here. And if you know Alex, please ask him to get in touch with us at [email protected] or at 914-980-4803. We would love to speak to him:

Here is what the President said:

We can learn from a young boy named Alex, who lives not far from here in Scarsdale, New York. Last month, like all of us, Alex saw that heartbreaking image -- five-year-old Omran Daqneesh in Aleppo, Syria, sitting in that ambulance, silent and in shock, trying to wipe the blood from his hands.

And here in New York, Alex, who is just six years old, sat down and wrote me a letter. And he said, he wanted Omran to come live with him and his family. "Since he won't bring toys," Alex wrote, "I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him addition and subtraction. My little sister will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him...We can all play together. We will give him a family and he will be our brother."

Those are the words of a six-year-old boy. He teaches us a lot.

The humanity that a young child can display, who hasn't learned to be cynical, or suspicious, or fearful of other people because of where they're from, or how they look, or how they pray, and who just understands the notion of treating somebody that is like him with compassion, with kindness -- we can all learn from Alex. Imagine the suffering we could ease, and the lives we could save, and what our world would look like if, seeing a child who's hurting anywhere in the world, we say, "We will give him a family and he will be our brother."

Note from the Editor: On September 22nd we received this note from Roy Gordon offering a free bicycle to Omran: He says, "Hello My name is Roy Gordon. I was hopping you could help me. I live in Ohio and after reading the story about the 6 year-old boy that wrote President Obama the letter I broke down in tears. What got me is generosity this little boy had and how this child can teach all of us a valuable lesson about sharing. So i wanted to share a gift of brand new bike. I do assembly and repair work for a company. I often come across brand new bikes that get returned to the company that were never used. I happen to have one that I safety checked and I would like to give it to this boy who wrote the letter so he could give it to the boy from Syria if and when he comes. You can contact me via this email address If you can help me out I would greatly appreciate it."

(Please contact [email protected] and we will put you in touch with Roy)