她叫麗茲·維拉斯奎茲(Lizzie Velasquez),生來(lái)就沒(méi)有脂肪組織。一天要吃60頓小餐,骨瘦如柴體重只有26公斤;右眼發(fā)藍(lán)且已經(jīng)失明,另一只眼睛是棕色的。她的病癥困惑了全世界的醫(yī)生,全世界只有三人受此病(馬方綜合癥)的困擾。不同尋常的是她被稱(chēng)為“骷髏女孩”。
在利茲17歲那年的一個(gè)下午,她正準(zhǔn)備上網(wǎng)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)歌,結(jié)果卻意外的發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè),讓她終生難忘的視頻。這個(gè)視頻很火,點(diǎn)擊量達(dá)到了上百萬(wàn)次,而女主人公正是利茲,那些網(wǎng)友稱(chēng)她為“世界上最丑的女人”。而網(wǎng)友的評(píng)論像千萬(wàn)顆針一樣,全部深深的刺進(jìn)她的心里。他們說(shuō)“她真的太丑了”“她應(yīng)該生下來(lái)就被掐死”“她父母怎么沒(méi)把她扔了”。
面對(duì)流言和一次一次的打擊,她決定站起來(lái)。微笑,走向積極的一面。
在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上被稱(chēng)作“全世界最丑的女人”,而她卻以此罕見(jiàn)經(jīng)歷著書(shū),她在TED上發(fā)表了演講:《一顆勇敢的心:麗茲·維拉斯奎茲的故事》
“從我出生的那一刻起
醫(yī)生就叫我父母不要期待任何事
他們說(shuō)我將不停地哭
他們說(shuō)我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)說(shuō)話(huà)
永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)走路
永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)爬
他們說(shuō)我將做不了任何事”
“而我的媽媽說(shuō),我要帶她回家,盡我們所能愛(ài)她,撫養(yǎng)她。”
生活并沒(méi)有讓Lizzie喪失信念,父母將她像正常人一樣撫養(yǎng),幸運(yùn)的是她在所生長(zhǎng)的環(huán)境中并沒(méi)有受到多少歧視。她做過(guò)拉拉隊(duì)員,紀(jì)念冊(cè)工作人員、報(bào)社、劇團(tuán),她還喜歡和朋友出去玩。
直到關(guān)于她的視頻走紅YouTube,一則只有8秒鐘,沒(méi)有聲音的視頻,有超過(guò)400萬(wàn)次的瀏覽……自此Lizzie了解了這個(gè)世界其他人對(duì)她的看法。她被冠以“世界最丑女人”“骷髏女孩”這樣的稱(chēng)號(hào)?!?/p>
YouTube數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的評(píng)論對(duì)她說(shuō)“你應(yīng)該自殺。”還用她的面孔配以恐怖音效的視頻。還有人在推特上給她發(fā)惡心的恐嚇留言。
有很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間,利茲都非常自閉。她把自己關(guān)起來(lái),痛哭流涕,她說(shuō)她對(duì)生活徹底絕望了。
好在,在家人不斷的鼓勵(lì)下,利茲重新振作了起來(lái)。她現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)能夠坦然的接受別人異樣的眼光,甚至?xí)赂业淖呦蚩此娜?,給他們介紹自己,并告訴他們“請(qǐng)不要再這樣盯著我看了”。
面對(duì)流言和一次一次的打擊,她決定站起來(lái)。微笑,走向積極的一面。她決定成為激勵(lì)人的演講者,在艱難中給人們帶來(lái)正能量。她決定寫(xiě)書(shū),她要大學(xué)畢業(yè),要擁有自己的家庭和事業(yè)!
大學(xué)第一年,她就出版了第一本書(shū)《Lizzie is Beautiful》,出版了英文和西班牙版。去年10月,她又出版了自己的第二本書(shū)《Be Beautiful,Be You》。她的第三本書(shū)也提上了日程表。今年5月,她將從德克薩斯州立大學(xué)畢業(yè)。
她告訴自己:Lizzie,你要證明給這些人看,他們不會(huì)再看不起你?! ?/p>
“我不準(zhǔn)備讓那些盯著我看的人,說(shuō)我丑的人,說(shuō)我將一事無(wú)成的醫(yī)生,他們不會(huì)看不起我,他們不會(huì)贏。”
她經(jīng)歷了一場(chǎng)“世界最丑的女人”和她自己心房的整個(gè)斗爭(zhēng)。她意識(shí)到,最好的反擊就是你的成就。最后,她贏了。
“我知道,什么是被人欺負(fù),什么是在網(wǎng)上被人欺負(fù),我想成為這些人的保護(hù)者,他們覺(jué)得這不會(huì)好轉(zhuǎn)了,”維拉斯奎茲說(shuō),據(jù)《獨(dú)立英國(guó)》(The Independent UK)報(bào)道。“不只是為我的眼淚尋求庇護(hù),我選擇快樂(lè),我意識(shí)到,這種綜合癥不是問(wèn)題,而是一種祝福,這讓我能夠提升自己,激勵(lì)他人。”
維拉斯奎茲身高5.2英尺,體重58磅,還有一只眼睛失明了。醫(yī)學(xué)專(zhuān)家說(shuō),她的病情可能是一種新生兒型類(lèi)早衰癥。
世界上只有三個(gè)人患有這種天生的綜合癥,而她是其中之一。她是奧斯汀本地人,17歲時(shí),她在音樂(lè)社交網(wǎng)站YouTube上搜索音樂(lè)時(shí),受到嚴(yán)重打擊,傷心欲絕。讓她驚恐的是,她看到了一個(gè)關(guān)于她的刻薄的視頻,題目是《世界上最丑的女人》,視頻有400萬(wàn)瀏覽量,及許多充滿(mǎn)仇恨和殘忍的留言。
“我甚至不知道,我為什么要點(diǎn)擊這個(gè)視頻,但是我點(diǎn)擊了,那時(shí)我迷失了,”她回憶說(shuō)。“叫我怪物,或者問(wèn)為什么我父母沒(méi)有打掉我……我到底怎樣去原諒那些讓我殺掉自己的人呢?”
2013年,維拉斯奎茲上了國(guó)際性頭條新聞,她發(fā)起反欺凌運(yùn)動(dòng)后,在TED演講上做了令人振奮的發(fā)言。這個(gè)演講的YouTube視頻被世界上的數(shù)百人觀(guān)看,并催生了她的最新紀(jì)錄片。
“我們?cè)谏钪卸加欣щy,但是比起她所經(jīng)歷的都算不得什么。她積極的態(tài)度鼓舞了世界上的每個(gè)人,”薩拉·波爾多(Sara Bordo)說(shuō),她在這個(gè)紀(jì)錄片中與維拉斯奎茲合作,首次擔(dān)任導(dǎo)演。
維拉斯奎茲正在美國(guó)游說(shuō)建立第一個(gè)了聯(lián)邦反霸凌法案。她在天主教教會(huì)中長(zhǎng)大,并將她克服生活中的艱難的能力歸功于信仰。
“這是我的磐石,帶我走過(guò)一切;就是有時(shí)間一個(gè)人呆著,禱告,和神對(duì)話(huà),并且知道他在那里聽(tīng)我,”她說(shuō)。“即使有時(shí)在黑暗的時(shí)刻,這些事情好像看起來(lái)永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)好轉(zhuǎn),如果你有信心,繼續(xù)鼓勵(lì)自己,你最終會(huì)度過(guò)一切。”
演講稿原文:
Hello, everybody.
I want you to do something with me really quick.
I want you to all think in your head,
remember the time -- because I know
every single one of you in here have done this --
when you're procrastinating doing homework
and you're procrastinating by listening to music on YouTube.
Now, you know, when you're looking at YouTube,
and you are watching a video,
there's "related videos" on the right-hand side of the screen.
I want you to imagine
that you are listening to some random song
and you see a little picture on the right-hand side
that looks pretty familiar.
So, you click on it.
And what you see is something that will change your entire life.
Now imagine if you clicked on the video,
and you realized that somebody posted a video
of you,
and labelled it "The World's Ugliest Woman,"
or "Man."
Think for a second.
How would you feel?
How do you think somebody would feel if they found that?
I will tell you,
because it happened to me.
And the moment I found this video,
I was given two options.
I could either choose happiness,
or I could choose to give up.
Now being in this situation isn't something that's new to me,
because I was born with a very, very rare syndrome.
There are only 3 people, including myself,
that we know of that have this syndrome.
I am 24 years old.
I've never weighed over 62 pounds in my entire life.
I literally could eat whatever I want,
whenever I want,
and not gain weight.
Now it might sound pretty amazing.
It is. Let's just be honest.
(Laughter)
But I am so small
and I look very different from other people.
So as you can imagine, when people see me
and they have never heard my story,
they don't know who I am they know nothing about me,
they see me and they think,
"What's wrong with that girl?"
"What eating disorder does she have?"
"Why is she so skinny?"
From the second I was born,
the doctors prepared my parents to expect
absolutely nothing out of me.
They said I wouldn't come out crying.
They said I'd never talk, I'd never walk, I'd never crawl,
I would literally accomplish nothing in my life.
And my parents said, "You know what?
We're going to take her home,
we're going to love her,
and we're going to raise her as best as we can."
(Applause )
So, that's exactly what they did.
They raised me completely normally.
I was a cute kid, I'm not gonna lie. (Laughter)
I was so small that my parents had to go to Toys “R” Us
to buy me doll clothes,
because regular baby clothes were way too big on me.
If you go like this,
that's the size I was when I was a baby.
I personally don't remember, but that's what my parents told me.
I grew up completely normally,
so normally to the point that, when I started kindergarten,
I had no clue that I was different.
I couldn't physically see
that I looked different from the other kids.
I unfortunately had to find out
in a way that I like to think of
as a big slap of reality for a 5-year-old.
I am sure you guys know the feeling,
the night before the first day of school, when you are super excited,
you have that like anxious feeling in your stomach,
because you don't know who's going to be in your class,
if you're going to make friends.
That's what I felt.
I had my full lunchbox,
my matching bow, my ruffled socks,
ready to go.
I walked in on the first day, and I saw a little girl reading a book.
I walked up to her, and I smiled at her,
and she looked up at me
like I was the scariest thing she'd ever seen.
And my first thought was, "She's rude.
I'm a fun kid. She is missing out." (Laughter)
So I let it go, and the rest of the day,
unfortunately, didn't get any better.
No one wanted to play with me, no one wanted to stand by me.
No one wanted to have a single thing to do with me,
because I was different.
And again, I couldn't understand,
because I was raised so normally.
So, going to the playground was hard.
I remember climbing up to the top of the playscape,
wanting to go down the slide,
but there was a long line.
And, as soon as I got up there, everybody moved.
And you would think, “Yeah, VIP to the slide."
(Laughter)
But they were moving because they were scared of me.
So that's when I had to go home and ask my parents,
"What is wrong with me?
Why doesn't anyone like me? I'm just like them."
And my parents encouraged me to go back to school, be myself
and eventually they'll see that I am just like them.
And that's exactly what I did.
So again, at such a young age, I was forced to be in a situation
of, I can either chose to be happy,
or I could choose to give up.
Luckily, I chose to be happy.
As I grew up, I started making a lot of friends.
I am pretty funny.
So I made a lot of friends really easily.
And once I started making friends,
my friends started becoming my body guards, per se.
When people would come up to me
and kind of tease me and make fun of me, which happened often,
they would come up and say, "This is my friend Lizzie, you know.
Be nice to her, she is pretty cool."
And luckily, it worked.
As I got older, I, of course, had to deal with a lot of bullying.
Luckily no physical bullying, but a lot of name calling and stares.
And so I felt self-conscious, a lot,
even though I was so young,
because I didn't look like the popular girls.
But I again continued to be myself.
During middle school, I did cheerleading.
I was a flyer. You could've seen how high I went up in the air.
(Laughter)
I'd realized that I was the people person.
I loved being around people,
I loved talking to people, meeting new people.
So I joined every organization that I could think of:
high school cheerleading,
yearbook staff, newspapers, theater.
I hate acting.
I won an award in a play.
I was doing all of these things,
and, once I got to high school, I was at a very high point,
and I felt really good about myself,
until the day I found the YouTube video.
This video is 8 seconds long.
It had no sound.
It had over 4 million views,
to this one video,
that was 8 seconds long.
I scrolled down,
and there were thousands of comments on it,
telling me I should kill myself;
If people see my face, they will go blind.
So I thought, "Those people...
How could they?
They don't know me.
They know absolutely nothing about me."
So again, I was put in the position:
choosing happiness, or to choose to give up.
And in that moment, I didn't want those people
to define who I was as a person.
I wanted to tell them off, I did,
but I told myself,
"Lizzie, you are going to prove to these people
that they're not going to win,
and they're not going to hold you down.
So, at this point, I am deciding,
"How am I going to get my 'revenge'?
What am I going to do?"
I am a very goal-oriented person.
So I decided to set four goals for myself.
I decided I was going to be a motivational speaker.
I was going to write a book,
I was going to graduate college
and I was going to have my own family and my own career.
I made these goals when I was
probably a sophomore, beginning of junior year.
2013 will be my eighth year of motivational speaking.
(Applause)
I told myself I wanted to write a book.
I never thought I would be like, on Harry Potter, or Twillight level,
but I knew I want to write a book.
My first year of college, I published my first book,
called "Lizzie Beautiful," in English and Spanish.
(Applause)
I never thought it would happen,
but I ended up writing my second book,
and it came out this past October,
called “Be Beautiful, Be You."
A couple days ago,
I got an e-mail from my publishing house
with a release date for my third book.
(Applause)
I told myself I wanted to graduate college.
And this May, I will be getting my degree
from Texas State University.
(Applause)
My fourth goal was to have my own family and my own career.
The family part, down the line.
I am only 24.
The career part, I feel like I have got in a good jump on it.
So now, I am faced with:
"What's next?
What am I going to do?"
One of the biggest motivations for me to accomplish all those things
was that YouTube video.
Every time I was sad,
every time I doubted myself --
you may think this sounds kind of crazy,
and you're thinking, "Why?" --
I would go back to that video
and I would look at every comment, every hateful comment,
and it was fuel to my fire to keep going.
Every nasty comment
made me want to work even harder,
even harder.
It's kind of funny timing, because my mom said,
"Well, your goals are pretty much going to be all done.
What are you going to do now?
Are you going to take a rest?"
And I said, "No, are you kidding?
Why would I waste my time?
My next goals are going to be even bigger."
But that bad video was finally taken down.
So I thought,
"Great! Things are looking up.
Life is pretty good."
This past Sunday, as I was preparing for this speech,
I started getting a lot of Tweeter notifications.
And when that happens, my heart sinks,
because I never know if it's something bad.
Unfortunately, it was something bad.
Somebody else posted another bad video of me.
This person had over a million subscribers to his channel.
He googled my name in his video,
had horrifying music playing when the search came up,
and all his subscribers started googling me,
and sending me really hateful things.
My dad's always told us you could have your one good cry,
and then you have to pick your chin up, smile,
and move onto the positive.
I had my one good cry,
I smiled,
and I said, "What great accomplishment is this video going to lead to?"
(Applause)
I told myself, "Lizzie, you are going to show these people
that they're not going to define you."
I am not going to let the people who stared at me,
the people who called my ugly,
the doctors who said I would never accomplish a thing...
They're not going to define me,
and they're not going to win.
I kind of looked at this whole battle
of “The World's Ugliest Women”
versus me,
and I realized
the best revenge is with your accomplishments.
So yes,
I won.
Thank you.