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(Serbian) Thank you very much.

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Guys, my name is Nick Vujičić,

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I was born in Australia in 1982,

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moved from Australia to California
in the year 2006.

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And my life story - I'm just thankful

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that people have seen my life

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on some sort of level -
whether it's just YouTube videos

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or seeing pictures
of a limbless guy smile.

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You know, people always ask me

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what happened to you

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and how did you overcome
what you've been through?

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The title of the message
that I've been given

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is "Transforming the walls into doors".

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When I speak corporately,

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the line that I like to use is

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"changing obstacles into opportunities".

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Now, I am very well aware
to share with you as well.

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I know that there are a billion people
going hungry today.

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I know that this year,
a million people will commit suicide.

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That is one every 40 seconds.

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I know today there are 120 million slaves

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and I've met six slaves

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and I've seen the top of the pyramid
as far as business

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and met the billionaires.

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I've met bankers
and I've also met orphans.

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We're all looking for something.

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We're all looking for hope.

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Hope you can't just have
just because you were born with hope.

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No, we're born with pain.

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We're born and live through difficulties.

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In our life - my parents always taught me

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that even though we don't know

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why I was born this way,
that we have a choice.

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Either to be angry for what we don't have

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or be thankful for what we do have.

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The power of that choice 
was the first thing

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that I had to overcome
and decide for myself,

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especially in the early years of school.

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A lot of kids would come up to me
and tease me.

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And I have been speaking at 5 congresses,

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I've met 7 presidents
all around the world.

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My largest crowd was 110,000.

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I have 30,000 invitations for me to speak.

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So wherever I go,
I talk about the value of life,

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I talk about anti-bullying messages

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for the school systems
in different nations.

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The greatest thing is love.

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When we feel like
we don't have enough love

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and we don't have enough hope,

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we start losing strength to live.

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For me in my life as a child,
I had a big wall.

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I was surrounded by four walls
and a low ceiling of opportunity.

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I was set free in so many different ways

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and especially surviving from day to day

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with my parents who loved me,
who encouraged me,

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who told me I was beautiful
the way that I was

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and not to worry about what other people
said about me.

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I was actually the first
special needs child

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to be integrated into the mainstream
education system in Australia

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and I was awarded
Young Citizen of the Year in 1990.

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And the world is a hurting place 
and the world needs hope

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and the world needs love.

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Without hope, we feel like,
'Why are we here?'

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Well, brokenness.

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Here's mine.

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Today, I still have no arms and no legs,
but everything's changed.

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Everything.

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For me, 
I was looking for hope and happiness

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and I couldn't see it for many years.

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In fact, if this side of the table
represents my hope,

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truth encourages me to become
all that I can be.

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But then we have lies, everyday,

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coming in our mind,
people who discourage us.

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You know the people
that you have in your life

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who, no matter how good
of a day you're having,

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they'll bring you down?

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Or no matter how bad
of a day you're having,

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they'll bring you even lower?

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You know what I'm talking about?

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Think of the three
biggest discourages in your life.

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They're not your biggest discourages.

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You are.

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It only takes 3 seconds for me
to tell you something discouraging

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but then, you may never forget my words.

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I've met so many 50-year-old women
and 40-year-old women

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who still remember
what their fathers told them

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that they wish they'd never heard.

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Words are powerful.

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And when you hear those words

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and then your mind starts growing
with these lies.

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"Nick, you're not good enough,
just give up, you'll never get a job",

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"You won't get married,
you can't even hold your wife's hand".

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"What kind of a father are you going to be

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if you can't even pick up your kids
when they're crying?"

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You're alone.
Sure, your parents hug you.

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But their hugs can't heal you.

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Just give up. Just give up. Just give up.

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At age 8 I thought that I should
commit suicide. Why?

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Because I didn't have hope.
I thought I didn't have hope.

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Today you can see that I had hope.

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What's the word, believing in something
you do not see? Faith.

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Words can only do so much.
Hugs can do much more than words,

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but when hugs can't do anything,
that's where faith kicks in.

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For me, words and hugs were not enough,
but I had no faith.

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So I tried to give up.

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At age 10, I tried to drown myself
in 6 inches, or 15 centimeters of water,

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in my home.

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I told my dad I just wanted to relax,
but really, I wanted to end my life.

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I had enough.
(Serbian) I had enough.

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The first two times I rolled over.

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I was trying to work out how much air
I hold in my lungs before I let it out.

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And the third time, in my mind,
knowing that I wanted to get out of here,

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because of the bullying in my life,

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because I was going to be a burden
to my parents

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and I had nothing to look forward to.

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I realized at that moment

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that if I actually went through
with committing suicide,

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I would leave a greater burden
for my parents than they already had.

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There was one thing less hopeful
or more burdensome

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than having a child without limbs.

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What is it?
A child without limbs who gives up.

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So when I saw in my mind
my mom and my dad

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and my brother crying at my grave
if I went through with it,

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that one thought saved me.

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If my parents never told me
that I was beautiful the way I was.

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If my parents never told me
that I was special and that I was loved,

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I wouldn't be here today.

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So I encourage every single parent

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who tries their best
to encourage their teenagers,

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especially in the West, many teenagers
put a 'do not disturb' sign on their door.

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I'm sure, the conversations all around
the world between a parent and a teenager:

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How was school? - Fine.
- What did you learn? - Nothing.

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- Did you do your homework?
- No.

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And that's the conversation for the day.

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And when you try to tell your children
that they're beautiful, they say,

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"Of course I'm beautiful,
I'm your son, your daughter,

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of course you're going to say that".

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But they're right.

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Every single human being has value

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and my value is not determined
on how I look

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or what job I have, or where I'm from,
where I was born,

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how much money, all that stuff is nothing.

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So many teenagers, you know,
tease each other

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for how we look and I tell the teenagers,

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"Do you think that I'm cool enough
to be your friend?"

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And they're like, "Yeah, of course".

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I say, "But I have no arms and no legs",
and they say, "Doesn't matter."

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And I say, "Really? So it doesn't matter
that I have no arms and no legs?"

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They say it doesn't matter.

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I say then, "Actually,
if it doesn't matter,

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then why do we kill each other
with our words,

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if it actually doesn't matter?"

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Why do we look [at] ourselves
in the mirror

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and see ugly instead of valuable?

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I want to ask you today,
what are you looking for?

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If I gave you a billion dollars,
would you be happy?

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If you gave me a billion dollars,
I'd be very happy.

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But then if my mom dies tonight,
am I happy? No.

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With all the money in the world,
I'd never be happy.

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Right? Because money is something
that cannot heal the soul.

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So many teenagers are looking
for love which, love does heal the soul,

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love does complete the soul.

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But even sex before marriage,
I was a virgin before I got married.

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Yeah, I've got a gorgeous wife,
we're pregnant with our first son.

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And I don't need hands to hold her hand.

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I only want to hold her heart.

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And you know,
how am I going to hug my kid?

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So many kids that come up to me,
it's amazing.

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They put their hands behind their back
and hug me with their neck.

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And I've realized in life,
even the worst parts of my life

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can be turned into good.

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And even more special.

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So many teenagers are looking for love
so they are going to go do this,

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and go do that
and have sex before marriage.

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For me, sex out of marriage
is like a 5 dollar Gucci watch.

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Sex within marriage
and having sex with someone

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who loves you, who is committed to you
for the rest of your life,

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going to be the mother or father
of your kids, that's what love is.

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You can sleep with
as many people as you like

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but never know for sure,
"Do they love me?"

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Love is a life-long commitment.
You see, there are choices in life.

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And we're looking. I want to ask you,
what are you looking for?

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If I can just drunk, why not, man?
I'll only live once.

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Well, if that's the way you believe,
great.

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But for me, I'm a greedy man,
I don't want to live for 90 years.

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I want to live for billions of years.

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And I know that every day,
my choices will affect this life,

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other people's life and my eternal life.

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You've got to come to the truth of knowing
who you are and why you're here.

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William Barkley, he said,
the greatest two days in anyone's life -

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the day you were born,
and the day you knew why.

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So, "Uh, you're ugly".

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No, I'm beautiful the way that I am

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and if you can't believe that for yourself

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so many girls, especially, stay with their
emotionally abusive boyfriends

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because, "If I break up with him,
then who is going to want me? "

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See, we all want love.

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That's why we do what we do sometimes.

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To get into the crowd -

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I am going to swear,
I am going to be cool -

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that's what this world is -

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"I want to look like her, if I was taller,
shorter, smarter, more popular" -

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whatever you want, it's not enough.

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Until you find the truth.

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I'm wonderfully and faithfully made.

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There is a greater purpose for my life.

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I am here for a reason.

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Sure, I didn't get a miracle.

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Yeah, I believe in a God
who can do miracles

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and I have a pair of shoes in my closet.

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Why? I've seen blind people seeing
and deaf people hearing.

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That's fine if you don't believe me,
I've got it on camera.

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But I realized something.

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If God doesn't change my circumstances

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he's going to use my life
to be a miracle for someone else.

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When you don't get a miracle,

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you can still be a miracle
for someone else.

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I'm going to close off
with this beautiful story.

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I was in Southern California -

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I have 2 organizations,

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a non-profit organization
and I have a for-profit.

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I probably spoke between years 2007
and 2010, 1000 times, 600 flights.

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And I've spoken to 4.5 million people
face to face

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and in the last 48 hours here in Serbia,
we've reached 5 million through media.

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So, we have the heart of people
to love others.

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We want people to love each other,
love yourself

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dream big and never give up.

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We are all looking for hope, aren't we?

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What are you looking for?

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Money, drugs, sex, alcohol,
pornography, fame, fortune.

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Never satisfies.

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It's never enough.

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But I have come to a peace,
so check this out.

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When I was 24 years old, 5-6 years ago,
I was in California.

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And I'd never met anybody else like me.

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When I was 10 years old, I wished
I would have met somebody like me.

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Never did, didn't get that miracle.

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But at 24, in Califronia,
I saw a little boy

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with no arms and no legs,
19 months old, just like me.

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I knew he was going to be bullied,


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he was going to go through depression,
he would feel alone,

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I knew that he would get worried
if he's ever going to have a girlfriend

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and so on, and so on.

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I got the father to bring him up on stage
in front of 2000 people.

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And everyone was crying.

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And it was a materialization
of when you don't get a miracle,

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you can be a miracle for someone else.

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I am not a superhero,
I go through ups and downs, so do you.

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But take one day at a time

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and if you haven't found that peace
of knowing who you are and why you're here

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and where you're going
when you're not here.

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For me, I want you to know
that's how I've overcome.

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I don't have any walls.

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My book's called "Life without limits"
and what will be, will be.

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I've acted in a short film, 30 awards.

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I got best actor in a short film.

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I've done my own music video.

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I've written 2 books, first book
- 30 languages, 800,000 copies.

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I'm 29 and we know
a billion people know who I am.

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Not to bring out my pride
or my name or my status,

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trust me, I'm just like you.

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But I hope you are inspired to know

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that if I can dream big, so can you.

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There are no walls.

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Find your peace and you'll make
your walls doors.

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Thank you so much.

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(Applause)