“Skydiving was so scary, my knees were shaking. Get it?” he said, and the crowd immediately broke into laughter. Nick Vujicic may have no limbs, but he definitely has a sense of humour. Having heard a lot about this motivational speaker and his talks that have reached 1.3 billion people so far, I immediately transformed into a sponge, geared up to absorb some of his inspiration.
An enthusiastic 800 attendees turned up at the Up Close & Personal event held at Hilton, PJ.
In case you’ve been living on another planet, Nick Vujicic is a Serbian-Australian who was born with an extremely rare condition called tetra-melia syndrome, which in layman’s terms means being born without arms or legs. His sensational story has spread like wildfire across the globe as he’s accomplished a great deal more than even average-limbed humans. Swimming, horse-riding, writing, are just some of the daily activities he has amazingly mastered, apart from encouraging folks from all walks of life to be better human beings with the strength and help from God. He runs his own non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs, and has published four books so far detailing his life obstacles, daring others to live theirs full of faith and positivity. (Read more about the event here)
Opening with his story of depression, loneliness, and near suicide at the age of 10, Vujicic mentioned how he was deeply unhappy about his handicapped condition, constantly questioning why he was chosen for these burdens. A couple of epiphanies later, which included spraining his version of a foot which ironically caused him to feel handicapped and grateful for whatever he had, Vujicic found his passion to be a speaker, and slowly started his journey to success. He then proceeded to a topic that most people, Asians in particular, could relate to: pressure to perform. Society places a harsh judgement of a person based on what you do for a living, how much you earn, how many friends you have; it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race and not feel fulfilled by one’s life accomplishments. Mediocrity shouldn’t be persecuted – jerks and bullies should. A great opening indeed.
As the talk intensified, Vujicic touched on several more topics such as generosity, strength of personality, and mainly fighting against bullying. “Bullies tear down but friends build up”, he said while addressing the group of underprivileged children seated on the floor space in front of him. Mentioning that he would go the extra mile just to make the difference in one person’s life, he then proceeded to mention that out of 600 schools that he has travelled delivering his anti-bullying talks, only one school actually heeded his message and ended bullying. Encouraging much?
Ignore the headshots. I tried my best!
Fair enough, his intentions were the best in nature, though looking at the crowd which held mostly working adults, I felt he could have addressed more on the disguised manners of bullying in adulthood. The impish ring associated with the word “bullying” can make it seem like it should solely be a child’s problem. The fact is, as long as the tiniest form of hierarchical system exists, bullying will be here to stay in all sorts of ways. Perhaps a more realistic and less idealistic angle of bullying would have done everyone some good?
By the end of it all, I have to admit I was a tiny bit disappointed. It felt like the evening was just about to kick off into something more meaningful before it came to an abrupt end. Maybe it was the time restraint, maybe it was those almost boastful self-statistics that he subtly threw in. Or wait – maybe it was the fact that he kept proclaiming his genuine love and brotherhood for everyone in the world, regardless of age, nationality or background, the typical religious play. Personally, I feel that the concept is utopian: if love is a default emotion, then there’s nothing really special about it anymore, no?
Then again, maybe I’m just too sceptical for my own good.
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