0:00:01.156,0:00:03.721
I could never have imagined

0:00:03.721,0:00:07.268
that a 19-year old suicide bomber

0:00:07.268,0:00:09.913
would actually teach me

0:00:09.913,0:00:12.281
a valuable lesson,

0:00:12.281,0:00:14.419
but he did.

0:00:14.419,0:00:19.234
He taught me to never presume anything

0:00:19.234,0:00:23.034
about anyone you don't know.

0:00:24.414,0:00:28.904
On a Thursday morning in July 2005,

0:00:28.904,0:00:31.797
the bomber and I, unknowingly,

0:00:31.797,0:00:34.394
boarded the same train carriage

0:00:34.394,0:00:36.401
at the same time,

0:00:36.401,0:00:42.584
standing, apparently, just feet apart.

0:00:42.584,0:00:42.834
I didn't see him.

0:00:44.360,0:00:46.135
Actually, I didn't see anyone.

0:00:46.135,0:00:48.816
You know not to look[br]at anyone on the Tube,

0:00:48.816,0:00:53.123
but I guess he saw me.

0:00:53.123,0:00:56.627
I guess he looked at all of us

0:00:56.627,0:01:02.677
as his hand hovered over[br]the detonation switch.

0:01:02.677,0:01:07.314
I've often wondered, what was he thinking,

0:01:07.314,0:01:10.459
especially in those final seconds?

0:01:12.180,0:01:14.911
I know it wasn't personal.

0:01:14.911,0:01:19.170
He didn't set out to kill[br]or maim me, Gill Hicks.

0:01:19.170,0:01:21.981
I mean, he didn't know me.

0:01:21.981,0:01:23.462
No,

0:01:23.462,0:01:28.904
instead he gave me an unwarranted

0:01:28.904,0:01:32.257
and an unwanted label.

0:01:32.257,0:01:37.025
I had become the enemy.

0:01:37.025,0:01:41.038
To him, I was the other,

0:01:41.038,0:01:45.788
the them, as opposed to us.

0:01:45.788,0:01:51.857
The label "enemy" allowed him[br]to dehumanize us.

0:01:51.857,0:01:55.178
It allowed him to push that button,

0:01:55.178,0:01:58.777
and he wasn't selective.

0:01:58.777,0:02:05.273
26 precious lives were taken[br]in my carriage alone,

0:02:05.273,0:02:08.461
and I was almost one of them.

0:02:08.461,0:02:11.720
In the time it takes to draw a breath,

0:02:11.720,0:02:17.819
we were plunged into a darkness[br]so immense that it was almost tangible,

0:02:17.819,0:02:23.590
what I imagine wading[br]through tar might be like.

0:02:23.590,0:02:26.222
We didn't know we were the enemy.

0:02:26.222,0:02:30.579
We were just a bunch of commuters[br]who, minutes earlier,

0:02:30.579,0:02:33.062
had followed the Tube etiquette:

0:02:33.062,0:02:36.966
no direct eye contact, no talking,

0:02:36.966,0:02:40.210
and absolutely no conversation.

0:02:42.004,0:02:45.967
But in the lifting of the darkness,

0:02:45.967,0:02:48.434
we were reaching out.

0:02:48.434,0:02:51.031
We were helping each other.

0:02:51.031,0:02:53.168
We were calling out our names,

0:02:53.168,0:02:56.715
a little bit like a roll call,

0:02:56.715,0:02:59.417
waiting for responses.

0:03:00.765,0:03:04.499
"I'm Gill. I'm here.

0:03:04.499,0:03:08.279
I'm alive.

0:03:08.279,0:03:09.869
Okay."

0:03:11.697,0:03:15.530
"I'm Gill. Here.

0:03:15.530,0:03:18.814
Alive.

0:03:18.814,0:03:20.530
Okay."

0:03:23.303,0:03:26.399
I didn't know Allison,

0:03:26.399,0:03:29.409
but I listened for her check-ins

0:03:29.409,0:03:31.571
every few minutes.

0:03:31.571,0:03:33.958
I didn't know Richard,

0:03:33.958,0:03:37.869
but it mattered to me that he survived.

0:03:37.869,0:03:40.746
All I shared with them

0:03:40.746,0:03:42.770
was my first name.

0:03:42.770,0:03:45.580
They didn't know that I was[br]a head of a department

0:03:45.580,0:03:48.621
at the Design Council.

0:03:48.621,0:03:52.798
And here is my beloved briefcase,

0:03:52.798,0:03:56.367
also rescued from that morning.

0:03:56.367,0:04:00.641
They didn't know that I'd published[br]architecture and design journals,

0:04:00.641,0:04:03.980
that I was a Fellow[br]of the Royal Society of Arts,

0:04:03.980,0:04:05.781
that I wore black --

0:04:05.781,0:04:08.814
still do --

0:04:08.814,0:04:12.095
that I smoked cigarillos.

0:04:12.095,0:04:14.421
I don't smoke cigarillos anymore.

0:04:14.421,0:04:18.629
I drank gin and I watched TEDTalks,

0:04:18.629,0:04:21.392
of course, never dreaming

0:04:21.392,0:04:25.816
that one day I would be standing

0:04:25.816,0:04:30.142
balancing on prosthetic[br]legs giving a talk.

0:04:30.858,0:04:36.158
I was a young Australian woman[br]doing extraordinary things in London

0:04:36.158,0:04:40.348
and I wasn't ready for that all to end.

0:04:40.348,0:04:44.247
I was so determined to survive

0:04:44.247,0:04:49.213
that I used my scarf to tie[br]tourniquets around the tops of my legs,

0:04:49.213,0:04:52.748
and I just shut everything

0:04:52.748,0:04:55.573
and everyone out

0:04:55.573,0:04:58.867
to focus, to listen to myself,

0:04:58.867,0:05:02.681
to be guided by instinct alone.

0:05:03.300,0:05:06.023
I lowered my breathing rate,

0:05:06.023,0:05:07.794
I elevated my thighs,

0:05:07.794,0:05:12.796
I held myself upright,[br]and I fought the urge to close my eyes.

0:05:14.835,0:05:18.897
I held on for almost an hour,

0:05:18.897,0:05:23.435
an hour to contemplate[br]the whole of my life

0:05:23.435,0:05:26.624
up until this point.

0:05:26.624,0:05:31.311
Perhaps I should have done more.

0:05:31.311,0:05:34.650
Perhaps I could have[br]lived more, seen more.

0:05:34.650,0:05:40.021
Maybe I should have gone running,[br]dancing, taken up yoga,

0:05:40.021,0:05:45.387
but my priority and my focus[br]was always my work.

0:05:45.387,0:05:47.837
I lived to work.

0:05:47.837,0:05:50.467
Who I was on my business card

0:05:50.467,0:05:53.895
mattered to me.

0:05:53.895,0:05:58.521
But it didn't matter down in that tunnel.

0:05:58.521,0:06:03.915
By the time I felt that first touch

0:06:03.915,0:06:06.079
from one of my rescuers,

0:06:06.079,0:06:08.834
I was unable to speak,

0:06:08.834,0:06:14.917
unable to say even[br]a small word, like "Gill."

0:06:14.917,0:06:18.043
I surrendered my body to them.

0:06:18.043,0:06:21.033
I had done all I possibly could,

0:06:21.033,0:06:25.981
and now I was in their hands.

0:06:25.981,0:06:31.653
I understood just who

0:06:31.653,0:06:36.210
and what humanity really is

0:06:36.210,0:06:39.338
when I first saw the ID tag

0:06:39.338,0:06:42.377
that was given to me[br]when I was admitted to hospital,

0:06:42.377,0:06:44.218
and it read:

0:06:44.218,0:06:51.009
"One unknown estimated female."

0:06:51.009,0:06:56.796
One unknown estimated female.

0:06:56.796,0:07:00.939
Those four words were my gift.

0:07:00.939,0:07:03.996
What they told me very clearly

0:07:03.996,0:07:06.614
was that my life was saved

0:07:06.614,0:07:10.407
purely because I was a human being.

0:07:10.407,0:07:14.933
Difference of any kind made no difference

0:07:14.933,0:07:19.882
to the extraordinary lengths[br]that the rescuers were prepared to go

0:07:19.882,0:07:22.562
to save my life,

0:07:22.562,0:07:25.308
to save as many unknowns as they could,

0:07:25.308,0:07:28.564
and putting their own lives at risk.

0:07:28.564,0:07:33.481
To them, it didn't matter[br]if I was rich or poor,

0:07:33.481,0:07:35.686
the color of my skin,

0:07:35.686,0:07:37.240
whether I was male or female,

0:07:37.240,0:07:38.923
my sexual orientation,

0:07:38.923,0:07:41.455
who I voted for,

0:07:41.455,0:07:47.687
whether I was educated,[br]if I had a faith or no faith at all.

0:07:47.687,0:07:49.576
Nothing mattered

0:07:49.576,0:07:53.858
other than I was a precious human life.

0:07:56.056,0:08:00.101
I see myself as a living fact.

0:08:00.101,0:08:05.346
I am proof that unconditional love

0:08:05.346,0:08:09.108
and respect can not only save

0:08:09.108,0:08:12.149
but it can transform lives.

0:08:13.094,0:08:17.879
Here is a wonderful image[br]of one of my rescuers, Andy, and I

0:08:17.879,0:08:20.240
taken just last year.

0:08:20.240,0:08:22.890
Ten years after the event,

0:08:22.890,0:08:27.790
and here we are, arm in arm.

0:08:27.790,0:08:29.998
Throughout all the chaos,

0:08:29.998,0:08:33.431
my hand was held tightly.

0:08:33.431,0:08:37.408
My face was stroked gently.

0:08:37.408,0:08:39.464
What did I feel?

0:08:39.464,0:08:41.685
I felt loved.

0:08:41.685,0:08:46.699
What's shielded me from hatred[br]and wanting retribution,

0:08:46.699,0:08:53.755
what's given me the courage to say,[br]this ends with me,

0:08:53.755,0:08:56.516
is love.

0:08:56.516,0:08:59.765
I was loved.

0:08:59.765,0:09:04.171
I believe the potential

0:09:04.171,0:09:07.387
for widespread positive change

0:09:07.387,0:09:12.261
is absolutely enormous,[br]because I know what we're capable of.

0:09:12.261,0:09:16.058
I know the brilliance of humanity.

0:09:16.058,0:09:20.053
So this leaves me with[br]some pretty big things to ponder

0:09:20.053,0:09:24.148
and some questions for us all to consider.

0:09:24.148,0:09:30.161
Is what unites us not far greater[br]than what can ever divide?

0:09:31.838,0:09:36.589
Does it have to take a tragedy[br]or a disaster for us to feel

0:09:36.589,0:09:41.109
deeply connected as one species,

0:09:41.109,0:09:43.726
as human beings?

0:09:43.726,0:09:47.951
And when will we embrace the wisdom

0:09:47.951,0:09:49.876
of our era

0:09:49.876,0:09:53.986
to rise above mere tolerance

0:09:53.986,0:09:58.738
and move to an acceptance for all

0:09:58.738,0:10:03.215
who are only a label until we know them?

0:10:03.215,0:10:05.497
Thank you.

0:10:05.497,0:10:10.953
(Applause)