From sports superstars to Nobel Peace Prize laureates, more than 25 inspirational speakers took the stage on Thursday at We Day in Vancouver.
Messages from the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and actress Mia Farrow ranged from personal stories of overcoming tragedy to blunt talk about the world’s biggest humanitarian challenges and advice on how to get involved.
Here are some nuggets of wisdom from five larger-than-life personalities:
Mikhail Gorbachev, Nobel laureate, former Soviet president
“We have a lot to learn about how to live in this new global world. I have faith your generation will cope. Do not believe politics is dirty or that it is incompatible with morality. Without morality it is empty, it is just a game of intrigue. You are on the right track. Find friends, like-minded people from all countries and walks of life.”
Hedley
“We took a $ 50 bill, part of $ 10,000 raised by a school here, and used it to buy a goat in Kenya. We wanted to show an action that didn’t cost a lot but made a big difference in someone’s life.”
— Jacob Hoggard, right
“We’ve met some amazing characters around the world and have realized they are not so different from us. The world is a smaller place.”
— Dave Rosin, left
Mia Farrow, actress
“2002 — the year I met a man who ate his belt. An event like that can rearrange someone. I had to do something. We are what we do, not what we say. The famine in the Horn of Africa is the most serious humanitarian crisis going on in the world today. That is my message. There are 13 million dependent on us for food aid, and thousands will die.”
Spencer West, Me to We motivational speaker
“When I was five, the doctors told my parents I would lose my legs to a rare genetic disease and it was not possible to live normal life again like the other children … but now, with some of my friends, I am climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. We are the generation with the technology and power to end poverty. Let’s redefine the impossible as the possible.”
Shawn Desman, singer
“We Day came to me and asked to use Night Like This and some of the choreography for the We Day dance. It was perfect. It’s upbeat and fun. To have 20,000 kids get up dancing, and they all want to make a difference, it’s incredible. Every time we do the dance, we get better, and Vancouver has been incredible, the energy is amazing but the people are so relaxed.”
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
About The Reporter
