I have no arms or legs but I’m very thankful that I have my little Drumstick here. People freak out when they see me for the first time. It’s so cool. I was water sliding all by myself. There are people at the bottom of the slide waiting for people to come down and here I come and they’re freaking out. I was so tempted to look at myself and say “What happened?”
There were times when I looked at my life and though well, I can’t do this and I can’t do that. And if you keep concentrating on the things you wish you had or you wish you didn’t have, you sort of forget what you do have. And there’s no point, I believe, in my life when I wish I had arms and legs, I wish I had arms and legs, I wish I had arms and legs, and wishing doesn’t help. What I’ve seen in life are just a couple of key principles. And the first thing I’ve seen is to be thankful.
It’s hard to be thankful. I’ll tell you, when I was 8 years old I sort of summed up my life. I thought, I’m never going to get married, I’m not going to have a job, I’m not going to have a life of purpose. What kind of husband am I going to be if I can’t even hold my wife’s hand?
It’s a lie to think that you’re not good enough. It’s a lie to think that you’re not worth anything.
I love life. You know, so many people come up to me and say, “How come you smile so much?” And I’m like, well, it’s a long story. But it’s very simple at the same time.
You see, it’s very hard to smile in life sometimes. There are things that happen that you don’t know and you don’t understand, you don’t know if you’re going to get through it. You know, you go through the storms in life and you don’t know how long the storm is going to be.
Being patient is beautiful, but I’ll tell you, it’s the hardest thing. But I realize, I may not have hands to hold my wife’s hand, but when the time comes, I’ll be able to hold her heart. I don’t need hands to hold her heart.’
It is scary to know how many girls have eating disorders. It is scary to know how many people are just angry at life because of their situation at home, and angry at others. It’s scary to know how many people actually feel like they’re nothing. Every single girl in here, right here, right now, I want you to know that you are beautiful. You are gorgeous just the way you are. And boys… you’re the man.
I speak to children, youth and adults about key issues and principles that I’ve applied in my life that give me the strength to conquer all that comes before me.
