0:00:00.965,0:00:03.507
I could never have imagined

0:00:03.531,0:00:07.483
that a 19-year-old suicide bomber

0:00:07.507,0:00:11.188
would actually teach me a valuable lesson.

0:00:12.640,0:00:13.807
But he did.

0:00:14.640,0:00:19.259
He taught me to never presume anything

0:00:19.283,0:00:22.423
about anyone you don't know.

0:00:24.414,0:00:28.543
On a Thursday morning in July 2005,

0:00:28.567,0:00:31.625
the bomber and I, unknowingly,

0:00:31.649,0:00:36.196
boarded the same train carriage[br]at the same time,

0:00:36.220,0:00:40.683
standing, apparently, just feet apart.

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I didn't see him.

0:00:44.185,0:00:45.976
Actually, I didn't see anyone.

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You know not to look[br]at anyone on the Tube,

0:00:48.611,0:00:51.912
but I guess he saw me.

0:00:52.916,0:00:55.957
I guess he looked at all of us,

0:00:56.687,0:01:00.901
as his hand hovered[br]over the detonation switch.

0:01:02.439,0:01:06.884
I've often wondered: What was he thinking?

0:01:06.908,0:01:10.265
Especially in those final seconds.

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I know it wasn't personal.

0:01:14.977,0:01:18.994
He didn't set out to kill[br]or maim me, Gill Hicks.

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I mean -- he didn't know me.

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No.

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Instead, he gave me

0:01:26.636,0:01:31.241
an unwarranted and an unwanted label.

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I had become the enemy.

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To him, I was the "other,"

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the "them," as opposed to "us."

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The label "enemy" allowed him[br]to dehumanize us.

0:01:51.674,0:01:54.101
It allowed him to push that button.

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And he wasn't selective.

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Twenty-six precious lives were taken[br]in my carriage alone,

0:02:05.042,0:02:06.970
and I was almost one of them.

0:02:08.855,0:02:11.596
In the time it takes to draw a breath,

0:02:11.620,0:02:15.290
we were plunged into a darkness so immense

0:02:15.314,0:02:17.696
that it was almost tangible;

0:02:17.720,0:02:22.079
what I imagine wading[br]through tar might be like.

0:02:23.398,0:02:25.448
We didn't know we were the enemy.

0:02:26.321,0:02:30.379
We were just a bunch of commuters[br]who, minutes earlier,

0:02:30.403,0:02:32.887
had followed the Tube etiquette:

0:02:32.911,0:02:35.117
no direct eye contact,

0:02:35.141,0:02:36.291
no talking

0:02:36.894,0:02:39.766
and absolutely no conversation.

0:02:41.948,0:02:44.901
But in the lifting of the darkness,

0:02:45.776,0:02:47.401
we were reaching out.

0:02:48.179,0:02:49.691
We were helping each other.

0:02:50.808,0:02:53.269
We were calling out our names,

0:02:53.293,0:02:55.444
a little bit like a roll call,

0:02:56.389,0:02:58.666
waiting for responses.

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"I'm Gill. I'm here.

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I'm alive.

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OK."

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"I'm Gill.

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Here.

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Alive.

0:03:19.329,0:03:20.524
OK."

0:03:23.096,0:03:25.637
I didn't know Alison.

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But I listened for her check-ins[br]every few minutes.

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I didn't know Richard.

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But it mattered to me that he survived.

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All I shared with them

0:03:40.570,0:03:42.053
was my first name.

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They didn't know

0:03:44.188,0:03:47.711
that I was a head of a department[br]at the Design Council.

0:03:49.185,0:03:52.742
And here is my beloved briefcase,

0:03:52.766,0:03:55.217
also rescued from that morning.

0:03:56.479,0:04:00.445
They didn't know that I published[br]architecture and design journals,

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that I was a Fellow[br]of the Royal Society of Arts,

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that I wore black --

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still do --

0:04:08.566,0:04:11.122
that I smoked cigarillos.

0:04:11.888,0:04:14.191
I don't smoke cigarillos anymore.

0:04:14.215,0:04:18.399
I drank gin and I watched TED Talks,

0:04:18.423,0:04:24.629
of course, never dreaming[br]that one day I would be standing,

0:04:25.593,0:04:28.488
balancing on prosthetic legs,

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giving a talk.

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I was a young Australian woman[br]doing extraordinary things in London.

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And I wasn't ready for that all to end.

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I was so determined to survive

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that I used my scarf to tie tourniquets[br]around the tops of my legs,

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and I just shut everything[br]and everyone out,

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to focus, to listen to myself,

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to be guided by instinct alone.

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I lowered my breathing rate.

0:05:05.847,0:05:07.627
I elevated my thighs.

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I held myself upright

0:05:09.343,0:05:13.013
and I fought the urge to close my eyes.

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I held on for almost an hour,

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an hour to contemplate[br]the whole of my life

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up until this point.

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Perhaps I should have done more.

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Perhaps I could have[br]lived more, seen more.

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Maybe I should have gone running,[br]dancing, taken up yoga.

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But my priority and my focus[br]was always my work.

0:05:45.279,0:05:47.180
I lived to work.

0:05:47.730,0:05:50.537
Who I was on my business card

0:05:50.561,0:05:51.831
mattered to me.

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But it didn't matter down in that tunnel.

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By the time I felt that first touch

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from one of my rescuers,

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I was unable to speak,

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unable to say even[br]a small word, like "Gill."

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I surrendered my body to them.

0:06:17.942,0:06:20.815
I had done all I possibly could,

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and now I was in their hands.

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I understood

0:06:29.283,0:06:35.481
just who and what humanity really is,

0:06:35.972,0:06:39.171
when I first saw the ID tag

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that was given to me[br]when I was admitted to hospital.

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And it read:

0:06:44.218,0:06:49.488
"One unknown estimated female."

0:06:51.162,0:06:55.377
One unknown estimated female.

0:06:57.004,0:06:59.951
Those four words were my gift.

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What they told me very clearly

0:07:03.896,0:07:06.601
was that my life was saved,

0:07:06.625,0:07:09.769
purely because I was a human being.

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Difference of any kind made no difference

0:07:14.818,0:07:19.375
to the extraordinary lengths[br]that the rescuers were prepared to go

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to save my life,

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to save as many unknowns as they could,

0:07:25.205,0:07:27.537
and putting their own lives at risk.

0:07:28.405,0:07:32.576
To them, it didn't matter[br]if I was rich or poor,

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the color of my skin,

0:07:35.463,0:07:37.025
whether I was male or female,

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my sexual orientation,

0:07:39.613,0:07:41.216
who I voted for,

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whether I was educated,

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if I had a faith or no faith at all.

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Nothing mattered

0:07:49.377,0:07:54.020
other than I was a precious human life.

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I see myself as a living fact.

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I am proof

0:08:02.276,0:08:09.004
that unconditional love and respect[br]can not only save,

0:08:09.028,0:08:12.069
but it can transform lives.

0:08:13.226,0:08:17.694
Here is a wonderful image[br]of one of my rescuers, Andy, and I

0:08:17.718,0:08:19.590
taken just last year.

0:08:20.080,0:08:22.641
Ten years after the event,

0:08:22.665,0:08:25.009
and here we are, arm in arm.

0:08:27.559,0:08:29.677
Throughout all the chaos,

0:08:29.701,0:08:32.541
my hand was held tightly.

0:08:33.200,0:08:36.073
My face was stroked gently.

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What did I feel?

0:08:39.541,0:08:40.763
I felt loved.

0:08:41.685,0:08:46.502
What's shielded me from hatred[br]and wanting retribution,

0:08:46.526,0:08:49.515
what's given me the courage to say:

0:08:49.539,0:08:52.419
this ends with me

0:08:54.006,0:08:55.197
is love.

0:08:56.585,0:08:58.583
I was loved.

0:09:01.234,0:09:07.499
I believe the potential[br]for widespread positive change

0:09:07.523,0:09:09.103
is absolutely enormous

0:09:09.127,0:09:12.031
because I know what we're capable of.

0:09:12.055,0:09:15.252
I know the brilliance of humanity.

0:09:15.930,0:09:19.840
So this leaves me with some[br]pretty big things to ponder

0:09:19.864,0:09:23.266
and some questions for us all to consider:

0:09:24.512,0:09:30.385
Is what unites us not far greater[br]than what can ever divide?

0:09:31.663,0:09:35.453
Does it have to take[br]a tragedy or a disaster

0:09:35.477,0:09:39.973
for us to feel deeply[br]connected as one species,

0:09:40.902,0:09:42.761
as human beings?

0:09:43.755,0:09:48.961
And when will we embrace[br]the wisdom of our era

0:09:49.764,0:09:53.134
to rise above mere tolerance

0:09:53.931,0:09:56.868
and move to an acceptance

0:09:56.892,0:10:02.225
for all who are only a label[br]until we know them?

0:10:03.550,0:10:04.710
Thank you.

0:10:04.734,0:10:11.532
(Applause)