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When I look into the mirror,

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I see my 12-year-old self
with cuts, scars, and bruises,

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but it wasn't who I am.

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Every day, I was bullied
because of who I was.

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I was born with this disorder
called ectrodactyly,

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which gave me four fingers on each hand
and two toes on each foot.

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All the hairs didn't grow
inside my ears correctly.

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But the best thing about those things

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is that I can just drive with Bluetooth
hooked up into my hearing aids,

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just jamming out just for fun,

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while I can just drive around
and do the Spock

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and find that everyone -

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they can just freak out and say,
"Whoa, this is cool."

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Every time when I hear "suicide,"

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people getting bullied, I never knew
what it really was until I felt it.

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"Go kill yourself."

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"You're not worth it."

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"You're retarded."

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It hurt so much
that it's been said to me.

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Suicide is now the number one cause
for teenagers from 12 to 18.

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It hurts everyone inside,
but they're not doing something.

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When I went to a Young Life camp,
I wanted to meet new friends.

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I wanted to have a better experience.

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I wanted to enjoy life.

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But that didn't really work out.

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So every day I sat in the corner.

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But this one day, it was special to me:

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a guy with big bushy hair,
with a guitar in his hand.

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showing the biggest smile to everyone.

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He was in a group with tons of people,

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and he says, "Give me a minute.
I'm going to talk to this kid."

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So he did.

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He'd come sit down with me.

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He'd talk and say, "I've been bullied too.

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I never had a lot of friends either
because of who I was."

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We talked about it, and we had
the exact same comment of each other.

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We didn't know who we really were.

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He always told me something,

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"No matter what happens,
you just need to smile.

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You just need to smile
because you're beautiful."

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Every day, he said that to me,
it made me think more.

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About two years ago,
Devin committed suicide.

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My heart was broken.
I didn't know what to do.

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I didn't want to be here.

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Devin really changed my life.

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After I went to his funeral,

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my mind started to think,
"I need to do something about this."

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It keeps hurting me inside.

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When I thought I can't do something,

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it came to my head,
"Smile, you are beautiful."

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And instantly I knew I can do that.

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So for the past two years,
I was holding a sign that says,

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"Smile, you're beautiful."

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It didn't stop me from doing it
after tons of months.

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People say, "You're an idiot.
Why are you doing this?

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You're wasting your whole time.

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You should go get a job,
do something fun with your life.

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Just stand instead of sitting
on the side of the street,

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just holding a sign that always says,
'Smile, you're beautiful.'"

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One day, I was standing on the side
of the road holding the sign.

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This guy comes up to me and says,

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"I love your message.
My son did the exact same thing."

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And he talked about how his son said
the exact same thing to other people,

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"Smile, you're beautiful,"

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to every single girl and guy
who was sitting alone

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and didn't know what to do in life.

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And he told me
that he committed suicide too.

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And he said that was his message
from his son from above,

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and he broke down as I did.

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And it means so much that
I'm doing something to help other people.

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I went to California to hold my sign

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to show other people
that they are beautiful no matter what.

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I went to Santa Monica, Long Beach,
even Warner Brothers Studios

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just to hold a sign that says,
"Smile, you're beautiful."

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Some people say it's crazy,
but for me, it's the best time of my life.

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So I just want to remind to everyone -

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"Smile, you are beautiful."

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(Applause)