When: September 27
Where: Air Canada Centre
Who: 18,000 youth, educators and friends
Why: To inspire and celebrate the youth movement for global change
Youth leading global change is the movement of our time.
We Day is the manifestation of this movement.
On Tuesday, September 27th, myself and others from my school attended WE DAY at the Air Canada Centre. It was an amazing experience and I was able to hear some amazing speakers, tell us stories about their experiences and what inspired them. There are other WE DAY events in other parts of Canada, so if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend you attend!
Above: The speakers and other guest stars that we saw were Craig and Marc Kielburger, who founded Free The Children in 1995, which is the organization that runs WE DAY and many other amazing events! Also, Nelly Furtado, who generously donated $1, 000, 000 to Free The Children, and touched everyones heart with her story, especially when Susan came on stage to thank Nelly.
Above: Spencer West, who is in the simplest of terms, inspirational and fantastic, and wish him luck in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in June 2012; which is his biggest challenge yet!
"As a kid, every time I went out, whether to the grocery story or a restaurant, people would point and whisper, "Where's that guy's body? Where's his legs? He looks crazy!
Nobody even asked me my name first. People were seeing my disability, instead of me. So I changed my story a bit. When asked, "Where are your legs?" I would say, "I left them in my other pants" or "I was swimming in the ocean and this shark swam up and BIT THEM RIGHT OFF!" If I could get them to laugh, people were forced to see me as a person.
But humour didn't always help me get noticed. Especially in high school when all of the guys started to play sports. I knew I couldn't play football or basketball, so I did what most guys do when they can't play these sports, I became a cheerleader! As a cheerleader I was known for my cartwheels, but they were not much help after high school. Or so I thought.
I was struggling to find my way when I was encouraged to go to Kenya with Me to We to build a school. Upon my arrival I was surrounded by swarms of school kids, who bombarded me with questions about my life. A little girl raised her hand and said, "I didn't know this sort of thing happened to white people, too."
Suddenly, I understood that instead of trying to be like everyone I was different for a reason. I was different because I needed to show others that it doesn't matter what your abilities are or where you come from in the world. If you work hard, never give up and laugh a lot, you can achieve anything. Now, as a motivational speaker for Me to We, I've spoken to audiences around the world about courage, shark attacks and making a difference. I've even showed off my cartwheels. Changing the world one cartwheel at a time!"
Other special guests who attended this incredible event were Joe Jonas, City and Colour, Rick Hansen, Nikki Yanofsky, Mary Robinson, Dalton McGuinty, Danny Glover, Dr. Patch Adams, Classified, Kardinal Offishall, Kenyan Boys Choir, Neverest, Shawn Desman, Munro Chambers, Alslinn Paul and more guests.
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