http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=606750
Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone,
no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what
about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk,
run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios
together… no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that
effect your everyday life?
Meet Nick... Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, without any
medical explanation or warning, Nicholas Vujicic (pronounced
Voy-a-chich) came into the world with neither arms or legs. Having
had an uneventful pregnancy and no family history to expect this
condition, imagine the shock his parents felt when they saw their
first born, brand new baby boy, only to find he was what the world
would consider imperfect and abnormal. A limbless son was not what
nurse Dushka Vujicic, and her husband Pastor Borris Vujicic had
been expecting. How would their son live a normal happy life? What
could he ever do or become when living with what the world would
see as such a massive disability? Little did they or anyone know
that this beautiful limbless baby would one day be someone who
would inspire and motivate people from all walks of life, touching
lives all over the world.
Throughout his childhood Nick dealt not only with the typical
challenges of school and adolescence such as bullying and
self-esteem issues; he also struggled with depression and
loneliness as he questioned why he was different to all the other
kids surrounding him; why he was the one born without arms and
legs. He wondered what was the purpose behind his life, or if he
even had a purpose. After a lot of frustration and feeling like the
odd one out in school, at seven years of age Nick tried out some
specially designed electronic arms and hands, in hope that he would
be more like the other kids. During the short trial period of the
electronic arms, Nick realized that even with them, he was still
unlike his peers at school, and they turned out to be much too
heavy for Nick to operate, effecting his general mobility quite
significantly.
As Nick grew up he learnt to deal with his disability and started
to be able to do more and more things on his own. He adapted to his
situation and found ways to accomplish tasks that most people could
only do by using their limbs, such as cleaning teeth, brushing
hair, typing on a computer, swimming, playing sports, and much
more. As time went by Nick began to embrace his situation and
achieve greater things. In grade seven Nick was elected captain of
his school and worked with the student council there on various
fund-raising events for local charities and disability
campaigns.
According to Nick the victory over his struggles throughout his
journey, as well as the strength and passion he has for life can be
credited to his faith, his family, his friends and the many people
he’s encountered during his life who have encouraged him along the
way.
After school Nick went on with further study and obtained a double
bachelor degree majoring in accounting and financial planning. By
the age of 19 Nick started to fulfil his dream of being able to
encourage other people and bring them hope, through motivational
speaking and telling his story. “I found the purpose of my
existence, and also the purpose of my circumstance… There’s a
purpose for why you’re in the fire.” Nick wholeheartedly believes
that there is a purpose in each of the struggles we encounter in
our lives and that our attitude towards those struggles that can be
the single most effective factor in overcoming them.
In 2005 Nick was presented with the "Young Australian of the Year"
Award, which is a large honor in Australia, recognizing a young
person for their excellence and service to their local community
and the nation, as well as their own personal accomplishments. This
award is only given to truly inspirational people.
Now at 25 years old this limbless young man has accomplished more
than most people even twice his age. Nick recently made the massive
move from Brisbane, Australia to California, USA, where he is the
president of an international non-profit organization, and also has
his own motivational speaking company; Attitude Is Altitude. Since
his first motivational speaking engagement back when he was 19,
Nick has traveled around the world, sharing his story with millions
of people, speaking to a range of different groups such as
students, teachers, youth, business men and women, entrepreneurs,
and church congregations of all sizes. He has also told his story
and been interviewed on various televised programs worldwide.
However, Nick’s speaking engagements have gone beyond purely
motivational speaking, he has had the opportunity to speak with
several leaders, including the vice president of Kenya. This year
alone Nick is set to speak in over 20 countries.
“People say to me, ‘How can you smile?’” he says. “Then they
realize ‘there’s got to be something
more to life than meets the eye if a guy without arms and legs is
living a fuller life than I am.’”
Nick shares with his audiences the importance of vision and
dreaming big. Using his own experiences in worldwide outreach as
examples, he challenges others to examine their perspective and
look beyond their circumstances. He shares his view of ceasing to see obstacles as problems, but instead
begin to see them as opportunities to grow and reach out to
others. He stresses the
importance of our attitude being the most powerful tool we have at
our disposal and illustrates how the choices we make can have a
profound effect on our lives and the lives of those around
us. Nick shows through his own life that the major keys in
fulfilling our biggest dreams are persistence and choosing to
embrace failure as a learning experience, rather than allowing the
guilt and fear of failure to paralyze us.
How does Vujicic feel about his disability now? He accepts it,
embraces it and oftentimes pokes fun at his own circumstance as he
shows off his many “tricks.” He meets challenges with his special
blend of humor, perseverance and faith always encouraging those
around him to examine their perspective as they develop and define
their vision. Using those new definitions he challenges each person
he meets to make changes in their lives so that they can begin the
path to fulfilling their biggest dreams. Through his amazing
ability to connect with people from all walks of life and his
incredible sense of humour that captivates children, teens and
adults alike, Nick is a truly inspirational motivational
speaker.
NB: My friend Joyce Tan who
is currently in Australia emailed me saying she could not
access this forum using the public library's PC (prompted
message : as appended below in green) . She watched the
above interviews on the TV on 3 August 2008 and would like to
share with everyone in this
forum.
URL Blocked:
politics.sgforums.com/forums/10
Category : Adult Content (Global)
MethodPolicy=library-public; LDAP
Group=publicaccesslibfull
