Number 21- Help a Stranger- COMPLETE!
Today was just amazing.
After announcing on The Circle two weeks ago that I wanted to help a stranger, I spent the next few days going through hundreds of emails which were sent to me from people watching the show asking me to help them do an array of things. From being asked to help someone to move house, to someone asking if I could babysit their child for a week while they went on holiday, there was an interesting bunch of offers on the table.
After some deliberation, there was one email that really caught my attention and although I wrote about this last week, I think it would be appropriate to show it again now. It was from a concerned mother based in Melbourne:
"Hi Seb,
I am so inspired by your motivation and zest for life.
I have a 10 year old daughter who is beautiful, smart and has the most
beautiful and kind heart, however she is bullied endlessly by kids at
school.She cries herself to sleep on a regular basis.
Both my husband, daughter and I would be so grateful if you would talk
to her class about your life, I think it would go a long way to stop
the torture she goes through everyday.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sian"
How could I look beyond this email?
This brings us to today, where funnily enough I find myself in Melbourne. This of course is no coincidence, in fact all it took was one phone call to the school of Billie (Sian’s daughter) who eagerly invited us down talk!
As such it fills me with absolute pleasure to announce that today not only did I manage to tick off Number 26- Help a Stranger from my list but more importantly, I got to meet a lovely young girl in Billie who along with her class mates made the talk an unforgettable experience.
Mid-talk- Altona Primary School students listen intently to one of many videos in the talk
Everyone had a great time and I’d like to thank Altona Primary School for having us. As I write this I am still nursing severe 3rd degree carpet burn to my legs courtesy of an impromptu ‘Dance-Off’ with class clown Kyle who challenged me after the talk. I should have known that a knee slide across the carpet could only have ended in pain but a dance-off is a dance-off and extreme measures need to be taken! I knew I was in trouble when I saw Kyle open up his routine with The Worm and so it should come as no surprise to announce that I think the better (and far younger) dancer won in the end.
Don't ask.... I thought this move would win the 10 yr old crowd over (it didn't).
After the speech I stuck around to meet everyone in person and spending time with Billie was just great. Billie is simply a great child and I’m hopeful that sharing some of my experiences with her class and talking about respect of oneself and others helped in some small way to showing the class that bullying is simply not cool. For some reason, I feel this was a great day for everyone in the room.
Billie smiling amongst her class mates
Highlight!
During the talk, each child wrote down 1 thing that they have always dreamt of doing and I promised that I would post it in the site. It’s amazing what things a group of 10, 11 and 12 year olds will think of and it goes to show that no matter what age, we all have dreams and aspirations. I promise if you read them, you’ll be left smiling (note that some names are missing)!
Michael - To try windsurfing
Nick - To own a goat as a pet
Nick (2) - To watch an entire episode of Doctor Phil
Haylee - To be an Australian netballer
Ana - To learn how to play the guitar
Sam - To kiss 10 girls in the same night
Maddy - To go down a hill in a shopping trolley
Nang - To swim with dolphins
Robin - To eat a maggot
Nana - To scubadive
Evangeline - To break a record
Elise - To try bungee jumping
Jack - To meet David Beckham
Liam - To pilot an airship
Jarryd - To ride a donkey
Ebony - To swim with dolphins
Heather - To kiss a dolphin
Reece - To ride a jockey that has won The Melbourne Cup
James - To eat a live snail
Lydia - To be silent for a week
Zeaton - To verse a celebrity in a dance-off
Tim - To say hi to a celebrity
Corey - To go on the red carpet
Sarah - To kiss a dolphin
Jack (2) - To skydive through a cloud and land on a trampoline
Luke - To go to jail for a week.
Sit motionless for a day
Eat raw goats testicles
Not to look at my hands for a day, while using them.
Don’t speak for a week
Drive on the busiest highway at 1km/h
Pole dance in public
Swim in the Red Sea
Get my black belt in karate
Not blink for 5 minutes
Swim with a whale shark while covered in shrimp
Fly to Mars
Sleep on a jelly bed for a week
Go to jail
Get kicked out of Disneyland
Fly a plane with over 200 passengers in it.
Sit in a graveyard at midnight
Be on a game show
Go to America
Fly in a private jet
Help Sebastian Perry (I think she meant Terry!) with one of the things on his Bucket List
Scuba dive
Dance in the middle of the city in a penguin suit
Dance and have it be shown on TV
Smack a strangers bum
Shave my head bald
Do a nudie run in the city
Talk really fast for a dayTalk for a whole day without saying “ummmm....”
These kids were simply great and after the talk they even surprised me when they offered a generous donation to Camp Quality, the charity that I am raising money for. They had decided to have a gold-coin donation! This was not expected and again I’d like to thank the students for their kind gesture.
