Rideau Hall, Tuesday October 18, 2011

Welcome to Rideau Hall. 

I have heard a lot about you, and I am so pleased to finally meet you and your families today.

One of my favourite things to do is gather my five daughters and eight grandchildren together and tell them a story. And since we are gathered together here this afternoon, I’d like to tell you a story, too—one that is very similar to your own.

Just over 130 years ago, a baby girl was born in a place called Tuscumbia, Alabama, in the southern United States. She was a healthy, happy baby, until a life-threatening illness left her blind and deaf when she was only a year and a half old.

From then on, this little girl spent her life in the dark and in silence.

You see, she couldn’t see or hear. She couldn’t speak or sing. She couldn’t read or write. She couldn’t go to school or play outside like all the other children her age.

And yet, this little girl was special. She never gave up. By the age of seven, she had over 60 hand signals that she used to “talk.” Over the course of her life, she developed more ways to communicate than most seeing or hearing people could ever hope to do in a lifetime.

With the help of her family, friends and teachers, she was eventually able to go to school. In fact, she became the first deaf person to ever graduate from university. She blossomed into a world-famous speaker and author, and travelled the world to raise money for the blind. She wrote books to explain the challenges that people with disabilities face every single day of their lives.

Her name was Helen Keller.

And she reminds me of you. Just like you, she never gave up. She didn’t feel sorry for herself or define herself by her disabilities. Instead, she found a way to succeed, to live life to the fullest, and to do all she could to help others in need.

Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved.”

What did she mean? She meant that sickness and suffering can have a silver lining. That perseverance and pain can have a purpose. That hard times can lead to hope. That challenges can shape a person’s character for the better.

That is what her life was about, and that is what your lives are about, too.

You’ve stayed active and positive, making people laugh despite your pain. You’ve had fun playing hockey, baseball and soccer. You’ve kept on skiing and skating, singing and dancing, riding dirt bikes, creating art, playing with toys trucks, and discovering bugs.

You have shown us that young people have so much to teach, by demonstrating that you are wise beyond your years.

By being thankful for the sacrifices your families have made to help you get well.

By setting an example with your joyful outlooks on life.

By working hard at school in the hope of one day becoming teachers, nurses, and mechanics.

By living each day with courage, determination and a positive attitude.

And by doing what you can to make sure that other kids are not afflicted by the same childhood diseases that you have faced.

In other words, you’ve been doing what many grown-ups could not have done if they had been in your shoes.

Always be proud of that!

You are the kind of kids who can move mountains. Who can do anything you choose. Who are real heroes. And who have inspired me and many, many other people across our country and around our world.

Thank you.