A life with no limb-its

 

Meet my friend Nick, who changes the lives of everyone he meets

TRUE STORY. A cute young woman is driving a car. She pulls up at the traffic lights. In the next lane, a car pulls up containing a good-looking young guy. She smiles at him. He smiles at her.

There is a pause while each waits for the other to make a move. After a few seconds, the guy does something. He spins his head around. ALL THE WAY round: north, east, south, west. She can't believe her eyes.

One minute, he's looking forward, then he's looking through the car's back window, and then his head has gone all the way around so he is facing front again.

She screams. What she has just seen is clearly impossible. He drives off with a cheeky grin.

This really happened. The guy, whose name is Nick Vujicic, does impossible things all the time. How? Well, Nick is a 26-year-old Australian who was born with no arms and no legs. He's really just a body with a head. Spinning around in a car seat is easy for him.
*
A year ago, when I first met him, I thought: Wow, poor guy. No arms and no legs. That sucks.

After a few minutes, I thought: Wow, lucky guy. What intelligence. What charisma.

Once I got to know him a bit, I found he could do loads of things I couldn't do. He can swim, ride horses, restructure a company (he has a degree in finance), and talk intelligently for hours. But the fun thing is to watch people grow in front of him. You can hear their brain cells working it out: if this guy can do so much, there's NOTHING I can't do.
*
Nick is currently on an international tour as a motivational speaker. Sometimes he talks about his faith. Sometimes he just talks about life. If he visits your neighborhood, don't miss him.

He was in my neck of the woods the other day. We pulled in the world's toughest audience - several hundred teenagers.

They slouched in, sullen, apathetic, bored with life, and lost in their iPods.

Nick took the stage. Their eyes opened wide as planets. Their jaws dropped to the floor.

After sharing a bit of his life story, Nick said: "If God gave me no arms and legs so that I could change just one life, it would be worth it. In fact, that IS the case. He DID give me no arms and legs to change one life. I think it's yours."

Dozens of iPods fell to the ground, and eyes filled with tears. Everyone in the room stood up with the same unspoken thought: I'm going to DO something with my life.
*
That was on a Sunday. The following day, I was in a class at university teaching creative writing. One student had written a tale about a hero who was brave, strong, clever and loved animals.

I complained: "This character is too perfect to be believable. He needs some sort of challenge, a defect or problem."

Another student raised his hand, saying: "He could be missing a limb."

I shook my head. "Missing a limb is not a defect," I said. "Not at all."

*
Mission to Singapore update: The person calling herself Angela has been located and arrangements have been made to meet Thursday evening. Angela, if you are reading this, please note my hotel will change. The place I arrived at last night is very comfortable but in a very old fashioned way. Lots of Louise Quinze furniture—but no email. So I am moving today. I will be at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel on Clarke Quay, 392 Havelock Road, 6733 0880. See you in the lobby there at eight. If you exist, that is.

 

Technorati Tags: nick vujicic,motivational speaker

Comments

[Angela]

Great! Now you are even closer to where I want to take you...the Singapore river :)
We can just walk from your hotel.

You will immediately spot me in my trucker's cap and my neatly trimmed goatee. See you tomorrow!

btw, I searched Borders and Kinokuniya for your books and here's what they call you: New-Ree Vittachi.

[fardel]

We have an amazing lady in our aviation community.
she has no arms but learned to fly.
Her name is Jessica cox
But i am sorry, I do not know how to add a file to this post

[si miut]

I saw Nick's video clip a while back and I was really moved...I mean, tears welling up and all.

No kidding, this guy is great. He can really get into my mind and motivate. I thought to myself "If he can do that in a few minutes clip, imagine him in live". And it's not just because he has no limbs but it's his sincerity and pure desire to make a change. Gotta respect this kind of person.

Ok guys, gonna stop now before I'm sounding more and more like Dr Phil.

[Ryan]

ooh he has come to my school, I'm one of the lucky ones (smug grin).
several hundred ipods broke as they fell to the floor that day.

[Christy]

His name is definitely on my all-time difficult-to-pronounce list of names. The top one is Dzierzhinsky.

And it brings back bad memories of high school religious classes...My teacher was showing a DVD of Nick's speeches. Then she called on me to comment. Well, it was really moving, but that would be stating the obvious and quite pointless. So I said, "He must be from Eastern Europe. The name, you know. It shows circumstances make the man. Euorpeans are usually a lot more miserable than Australians."

[Gerald]

The Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel is great! If the mysterious Angela doesn't turn up, just pop over next door to Zouk where it's Mambo night and drown your sorrows while crazed clubbers do weird synchronised moves (only in Asia...) and puke on your shoes. Ha ha ha.

[Angela]

Fardel, I read about Jessica Cox and her accomplishments. Not only can she fly, she is also a taekwondo blackbelt and accomplished dancer among others. Amazing indeed. She is Filipino-American, btw.

I had a playmate/neighbor in Indonesia, a little girl whom the neighbors fondly called crab child because she had stumps with toes for legs and when she walks with her hands she looks like she is moving sideways like a crab. She was quite fast though when we were chasing football or just running around in the field.

Limitations exist only in the mind.

[Mira]

This is too good and too touching to describe in words. If this guy has set out to bring a change in people's lives, to bring hope, then he has done a swell job. I wish him all the best. And yes, it is true that most of the difficulties and limitations we face in life are a making of our own minds, and exist only within our own thoughts and beliefs.

[Sam]

This guy is as positive as Nick. Have a look at his case.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=56500&in_page_id=2

[Sham]

No fair, Nury. When are u visiting Malaysia? We will show u the Klang river in all its 'teh-tarik' coloured glory :)

[farah]

there should be more publicity on real life heroes rather than glammed up fake superheroes (not that i have anything against them). after reading this article i pity those who have full functioning limbs who are either too arrogant about it or just plain lazy. and also those who prefers to beg rather than do anything else. but i honestly doubt if this is going to make any difference cause they would cry or applause one minute and next minute say it's only possible as this guy comes from a well developed country and has a big team to support him and blah blah.

big shame on all of us!

[Chamin]

I am thinking here. I should create a fictitious Japanese character here so that Nury can come to Japan for a search operation and I can meet him :-p

As for Nick, I think the almighty God himself can learn from a man who can do so much without his limbs.

[cris c]

Hmmm.... so I seriously cried. Haha! That was the most inspiring 5 minutes of my life! Thanks for pasting the video Nury.

Lost the right big toe myself in a bicycle accident! As a female at 23, who fancies clothes and shoes, it is in fact a bit of a deal still, after more than 10 years. Still bitter about it even though I get no teasing at all, and people tell me it's not that obvious until I let them know. Having watched this video (plus a lot more on TV) reminded me again that it's truly not a defect and I can still feel beautiful and be admired of in other aspects.

For I'm a jolly good fellllaaaaaa... that nobody can't deny!

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Jam. : )

[cris c]

Yeah, I watched that story of Angela on TV. She can drive too! Amafanzingstic!

[Air Jordans]

Enjoyed reading this and would rather examine my own life and see where I am.Thank you v much for sharing...

[fardel]

Aviation had another leg less hero, Sir Douglas Bader, a major trouble to his Air Force but a worse nightmare to Nazy Germany
He escaped death by leaving his wooden legs in a damaged aircraft.
His story is very interesting