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

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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

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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 an unwarranted

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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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26 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 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, 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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Okay."

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"I'm Gill. Here.

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Alive.

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Okay."

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I didn't know Allison,

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but I listened for her check-ins

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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 that I was
a head of a department

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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'd 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 TEDTalks,

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of course, never dreaming

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that one day I would be standing

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balancing on prosthetic
legs 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

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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,
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 just who

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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,
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 that unconditional love

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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,
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

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for widespread positive change

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is absolutely enormous,
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 for us to feel

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deeply connected as one species,

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as human beings?

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And when will we embrace the wisdom

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of our era

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to rise above mere tolerance

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and move to an acceptance for all

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who are only a label until we know them?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)