Famous speaker inspires WISD to Rise Above Bullying

“I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

The old poem attributed to Persian poet Saadi is a lesson in humility teaching people for centuries to be thankful for what they do have. That was the easy, visual message that Wimberley ISD students learned last week from famed speaker Nick Vujicic.

Vujicic does have a foot, his “little foot” as he calls it, but it is attached to his body a few inches below his hip. He was born with no arms and no legs.

“My parents said ‘Don’t be angry for what you don’t have. Be thankful for what you do have and I am so thankful for my little foot,” Vujicic said as he showed how well he could put his foot to use by typing on a cell phone.

The speech was part of Vujicic’s hour-long inspirational message Rise Above Bullying. He spoke to the entire WISD student body.

“We are honored that Wimberley ISD was on the Rise Above Bullying National Tour especially as we kick off a month dedicated to reminding everyone about the importance of kindness, embracing differences and uplifting one another,” Wimberley ISD Superintendent Dwain York said. “The District prioritizes the safety for all students and this presentation by such an enthusiastic and impassioned speaker, Nick Vujicic, is the perfect way to begin this month as we all work together to keep this momentum going throughout the school year.”

The speech was live streamed to every school in Region 13.

“Sometimes you can’t change your circumstance but sometimes we don’t even realize that we become the biggest limitation in our lives,” Vujicic said. “When the doctors told my parents that I wouldn’t walk they also said something else. They said that your son will also never go to school. Why?… The law in 1989 when I was six in Australia was such that if your child has a special need or disability they were not allowed to go to a mainstreams school. It was against the law. What the doctors didn’t know is that my mom would go to the government and tell them ‘You might want to change the law, because my son should be able to go to school.’ They put me on TV and in front of government officials, and guess what, I was the first disabled kid to go to a mainstream school in Australia.

“And little did they know that little boy would go all around the world. I have done 71 countries, met 18 presidents. The largest audience I have ever spoken in front of is 800,000 people live with 26 countries watching on mainstream TV… It happened because a man without arms said ‘I am not going to expect everything to be given to me. I am going to go out, not bully myself, not limit myself and I am going to dream big.’”

Vujicic’s speech was largely centered around love and encouragement. He told students to treat everyone equally no matter their differences.

“No one is defined by how they look or the differences we have. It is about who you are… How you make others feel shows me who you are.”

Vujicic drove the point home about the impacts of bullying. He highlighted statics about suicide stating about 14 percent of students have thought about committing suicide.

“There are 1,400 students in this room,” Vujicic said. “I want you to understand that is about 200 students here that have thought of giving up.”

He said that of those 200, 80 have attempted suicide, 20 of those because of a broken home and 35 of those because of bullying in school.

“I want you to know you have guidance counselors in your school,” Vujicic said. “…If I didn’t talk to someone, it would have been a lot more difficult. When I was 10 years old I attempted suicide, because all I could see was broken pieces… but there is hope. Don’t give up because you don’t know what your broken pieces can do if you don’t give them a chance. Some of you are not giving your brothers and sisters a chance.”

“If you want to make a difference in the world, this is your world,” Vujicic said. “… Welcome to you starting intentionally to make a difference on a planet with about 7.5 billion people. Welcome to making a difference… If I was told just one person in my school was thinking about suicide because of bullying and gossip, you know what I would decide? I would decide I’m not even going close to pushing the envelop… It just isn’t worth some else’s life…. You can make a decision to save people’s lives.”

The entire speech can be viewed on wimberleyisd.net. More information about Vujicic can be found at lifewithoutlimbs.org.