WEBVTT

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I could never have imagined

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that a 19-year-old suicide bomber

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would actually teach me a valuable lesson.

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But he did.

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He taught me to never presume anything

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about anyone you don't know.

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On a Thursday morning in July 2005,

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the bomber and I, unknowingly,

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boarded the same train carriage
at the same time,

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standing, apparently, just feet apart.

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I didn't see him.

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Actually, I didn't see anyone.

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You know not to look
at anyone on the Tube,

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but I guess he saw me.

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I guess he looked at all of us,

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as his hand hovered
over the detonation switch.

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I've often wondered: What was he thinking?

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Especially in those final seconds.

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I know it wasn't personal.

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He didn't set out to kill
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

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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
to dehumanize us.

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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
in my carriage alone,

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and I was almost one of them.

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In the time it takes to draw a breath,

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we were plunged into a darkness so immense

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that it was almost tangible;

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what I imagine wading
through tar might be like.

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We didn't know we were the enemy.

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We were just a bunch of commuters
who, minutes earlier,

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had followed the Tube etiquette:

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no direct eye contact,

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no talking

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and absolutely no conversation.

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But in the lifting of the darkness,

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we were reaching out.

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We were helping each other.

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We were calling out our names,

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a little bit like a roll call,

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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.

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OK."

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I didn't know Alison.

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But I listened for her check-ins
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

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was my first name.

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They didn't know

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that I was a head of a department
at the Design Council.

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And here is my beloved briefcase,

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also rescued from that morning.

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They didn't know that I published
architecture and design journals,

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that I was a Fellow
of the Royal Society of Arts,

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that I wore black --

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still do --

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that I smoked cigarillos.

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I don't smoke cigarillos anymore.

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I drank gin and I watched TED Talks,

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of course, never dreaming
that one day I would be standing,

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balancing on prosthetic legs,

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giving a talk.

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I was a young Australian woman
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
around the tops of my legs,

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and I just shut everything
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.

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I elevated my thighs.

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I held myself upright

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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
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
lived more, seen more.

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

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But my priority and my focus
was always my work.

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I lived to work.

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Who I was on my business card

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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
a small word, like "Gill."

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I surrendered my body to them.

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I had done all I possibly could,

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and now I was in their hands.

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I understood

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just who and what humanity really is,

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when I first saw the ID tag

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that was given to me
when I was admitted to hospital.

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And it read:

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"One unknown estimated female."

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One unknown estimated female.

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Those four words were my gift.

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What they told me very clearly

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was that my life was saved,

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purely because I was a human being.

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Difference of any kind made no difference

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to the extraordinary lengths
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,

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and putting their own lives at risk.

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To them, it didn't matter
if I was rich or poor,

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the color of my skin,

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whether I was male or female,

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my sexual orientation,

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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

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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

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that unconditional love and respect
can not only save,

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but it can transform lives.

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Here is a wonderful image
of one of my rescuers, Andy, and I

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taken just last year.

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Ten years after the event,

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and here we are, arm in arm.

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Throughout all the chaos,

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my hand was held tightly.

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My face was stroked gently.

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What did I feel?

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I felt loved.

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What's shielded me from hatred
and wanting retribution,

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what's given me the courage to say:

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this ends with me

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is love.

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I was loved.

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I believe the potential
for widespread positive change

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is absolutely enormous

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because I know what we're capable of.

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I know the brilliance of humanity.

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So this leaves me with some
pretty big things to ponder

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and some questions for us all to consider:

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Is what unites us not far greater
than what can ever divide?

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Does it have to take
a tragedy or a disaster

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for us to feel deeply
connected as one species,

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as human beings?

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And when will we embrace
the wisdom of our era

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to rise above mere tolerance

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and move to an acceptance

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for all who are only a label
until we know them?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)