you know I thought I’d start our time
off today with a bit of a story for you
a story about a boy this little boy was
found in a motel unit back in the early
1960s on a cold winter’s day
now the motel unit door was cracked open
and the sound of a baby crying was what
alerted people to the fact that there
might be a problem in the room and as
the motel staff entered the room they
realized that there were no adults in
that room there was just the baby laying
on the bed as they looked around the
room a lot of the furniture was knocked
over and there was blood everywhere
one of the motel staff grabbed a blanket
and he he wrapped that baby up and he
took him over to the motel office where
they phoned the police at the end of the
day that child was taken into custody by
social services and within a matter of a
few weeks he was placed another foster
care system now I believe that there are
thousands of amazing foster families out
there but you know not every fostering
situation works out well for the
children involved in fact oftentimes
children will move in and out of care
and that’s what happened for this little
boy he went from foster home to foster
home to foster home and tell by the time
he was five years old he’d been through
13 different foster homes now you might
be saying to me Tom how do you know so
much about this little guy story and
I’ll tell you the reason I know so much
about this handsome little devil story
is because it’s my story I’m sharing my
story with you what you may not know
though is that there are hundreds of
thousands of foster children across
North America today what you may not
know about those children is that high
percentages of those foster children
never complete high school many of them
struggle with drug and alcohol and
mental health issues most of them at one
time or another become homeless or
incarcerated and many of them by the
time their 30th birthday
rolls around have already committed
suicide so by the time I get this to you
and as I share my story with you what I
want you to know is that I am NOT the
author of my own miracle that I’m
standing here with you today in fact I
would like to share with you the two
people who I believe are the authors of
my miracle of being with you here today
meet Geminid weena Watson a retired
preacher and a retired teacher both in
their 60s empty-nesters who reach back
across two generations to bring a
traumatized five-year-old boy into their
home and I have to tell you this was a
real monumental effort that these two
made because in actual fact I was not a
very lovable child at that time I hardly
knew how to speak I would if I wanted
something I would point and I would
grunt and if I didn’t want something I
would actually bare my teeth and growl
like an animal at night I would pee my
bed and in the daytime I would soil my
pants and if I would go missing in the
house which was quite regularly they
would find me in a closet hiding like a
frightened animal now if I wasn’t in
school at with with my classmates I
would spend time with the preacher on
the farm
mr. Watson was a wise old Irishman and
he had gone through the Second World War
and he demanded discipline and honesty
and hard work from me I spent thousands
and thousands of hours working alongside
that wise old mentor in the evening I
would spend time with mrs. Watson in my
bedroom and she took a little boy who
didn’t know his ABCs or as one two
threes like everybody else did and
helped him learn and maybe more
importantly with her love and caring she
helped him learn to love to learn now
you know I think at times in our lives
we all kind of get into these things
where we get over our heads and I think
that happened for the Watsons actually I
think they felt at one point when they
after they brought me into their home
that they were over their heads and and
frankly I was a bit of a
trainwreck because at school I was a
constant distraction in the classroom I
would be caught weekly stealing from
teachers purses or stealing from
backpacks of other kids on the
playground I was the I was the sole
instigator of every fight on the
playground daily I spent more time in
the principal’s office than I ever ever
spent in the classroom and at home it
was the same kind of thing the Watsons
never knew what was going to go on and I
think it all came to a head at one point
one summer when mr. Watson had relatives
coming out from Toronto to visit him in
Alberta on the farm and they were
bringing a young man named Steven with
them now Steven was my age but I’m sure
Steven had never been out of the city he
didn’t know that eggs came out of
chickens or milk came out of milk cows
and so one night after supper I said to
Steven Steven would you like to Malka
cow with me tomorrow and he was so so
excited about that so the next morning I
got him up and I got him out to the barn
and I sat him down in the milk stool and
I said Steven I’m going to get the milk
cow now and off I went
and a few minutes later I came back and
I had our 3,000 pound bull in tow and I
tied that bull up and I got Steven to
start milking the bull and as I leaned
against the fence watching Steven
chuckling to myself
all of a sudden mr. Wattson walked in
unannounced and his eyes almost bulged
out of his head and I think I almost
gave him a heart attack
and he’s trying to talk to Steven about
what’s going on and Steven doesn’t
understand the difference between a milk
cow and a bull and so finally mr.
Wattson has to get down and he says to
steven very bluntly steven son you have
the penis in your hand it’s a bull it’s
a penis son and like a scene out of
Macaulay Culkin and home alone Steven
realizes what’s going on and he screams
and he jumps out that milks doing off
goes through the barn and out to the
house to wash his hands and I think at
that point in time the Watsons realized
they were in over their heads so what
they decided to do was form a village
around me and that’s really what they
needed was more people to take an
interest in me they they reached out to
difference makers like their son Dale
who I looked up to and Dale is still a
big part of my life now and they reached
out to their daughter Fay who was like a
second mother to me and they reached out
to teachers and coaches and they reached
out to other community families who all
surrounded me they made an army around
me and slowly but surely I started to
show like glimmers of hope but the
reality of it was is that I was still
like crazy I mean it’s not like I just
changed overnight
and so you know when I think about that
I think that mr. Watson would look at me
and say what are you doing it was like
the time when I was on the playground
and a little girl in my class pointed
fingers at me and she said you’re stinky
and later that day in class I took she
sat in front of me and I took tant and
her hair at gently and I snipped ten
inches off of it that wasn’t good and
the time that I was in the gymnasium and
I got in a fight and I knocked a young
man’s two teeth out and that wasn’t good
and mr. Watson got a phone call after
that he he had to get in the car and
drive the well-worn path into town and
to the principal’s office and he took me
home that day and on the way home he
gave me two bits of advice he said
number one anybody who does anything
great in the world has to like
themselves you don’t like yourself and
number two you’ll never like yourself
until you start doing good things in the
world you need to choose good you need
to act on your good and you need to
actually enjoy the good that you do
people around you will enjoy you you’ll
enjoy yourself you’ll be good you need
to be good and love yourself to be great
that’s stuck with me for some reason
that day
and so when I think about that I think
about the Watsons what did they do for
you in society what did they do for you
well I could have been remember I told
you earlier about foster children
struggling with drugs and alcohol and
incarceration I could have been that
alcoholic last night who drove home and
killed somebody in your family I could
be that drug dealer living out in your
neighborhoods feeding your kids drugs I
could be the thief that stole your stuff
out of your house or stole your car last
night but instead what I am is what the
Watsons helped create through a miracle
they took a disheveled little boy and
they who was trajectory down to crash
and burn and instead they altered that
trajectory to a person who actually can
be here with you today functioning well
you know I read more and more and more
that we are more connected in society
than ever before and yet lonelier and I
believe that because in my life as I
look back I think about the times that I
struggled as a young boy and I think
about how I’ve struggled in certain
areas of my life over time and it has
never been a text or a Facebook message
that made me feel good about myself it
was that physical relationship of being
together like we are today being with
somebody seeing them smile hearing their
voice feeling a hug getting a pat that’s
the stuff that makes people feel good
it’s not that cheap bandage real
relationship that social media can be
and so I believe that people are
lonelier today you know I’ll give you an
example of that rich relationship I was
talking about my first wife Darlene was
struggling with cancer and she had had a
bone marrow transplant and she was doing
fairly well but the doctors in her and I
got together and we decided I should fly
back home and so I did fly home I hadn’t
been home in months and I was going to
go back to work and I was gonna get the
house ready so if Darlene could come
home I I would be ready for I was home
in a few days later a panicked phone
call came from our
during what he said was Darlene’s taking
a turn for the worse than she’s going to
die I raced through the airport and I’m
sitting in the plane and I’m on a window
seat and there’s a empty seat beside me
and I’m praying God please don’t let
somebody sit here that wants to talk
because I do not want to talk and when
you know it the loveliest grandma ever
sat beside me and she is heading from
fort st. John to Vancouver to see her
grandkids who she hasn’t seen for a
while she’s very excited and she’s
trying to tell me and I’m trying to
ignore her and she would tap me on the
leg and I’d look and then I try to
ignore and she tapped me getting finally
I said to her ma’am I do not want to be
rude to you today but my wife is dying
and that’s why I’m going to Vancouver
and I don’t feel like talking and I
turned with tears streaming down my eyes
looked out the window and you know a
miracle moment happened in a few seconds
this warm little grab my hand slid into
my hand and she held my hand from fort
st. John to Vancouver there was some
soothing energy that came through her
hand into me it was like she was holding
my broken heart there we were two
strangers on a plane me trying to get to
my wife to help her pass from this life
to the next and this little Graham I
helping prepare me to do that you know
there’s this boomerang feeling that
you’d get I think that grandma got that
that day I’d been rude to her but she
knew for sure that she was helping me
I think the Watsons knew in their last
days that they had done something
miraculous with this boy who was just
shovel dand now he could be a
functioning member of society I think
all of you would be able to remember
back to things that you’ve done with
families and friends or man even with
people you don’t know that made you feel
good well you know that’s the boomerang
effect that’s what it’s about you give
something and you get something back
it’s amazing that’s what makes us so
special we can give and receive
and you know I ran into a interesting
story that I like to share with you my
wife Cathy and I were we’re getting our
house painted the last few weeks and an
amazing lady came into our lives she’s a
painter she her name’s Nicole and she
was explaining to us about this client
that she had about a year ago his name’s
Arthur Arthur was on a dialysis machine
he needed a kidney transplant and he
told Nicole all his story and his family
told her them their story and Arthur’s
been struggling to find a donor so his
story touched Nicole so much that she
went out on her own and she got all the
testing done to see if she might be a
good donor it turns out she was and so
Nicole actually donated just a few weeks
ago she went through the transplant to
help Arthur now Arthur’s doing well and
Nicole’s doing well and the amazing
thing that Nicole has told me since was
how amazing she felt even when she made
the decision to tell Arthur that she was
going to do this for him and after the
fact she’s told me it’s this boomerang
effect has just been even more amazing
for her and so the interesting thing as
Nicole got a wonderful letter from
Arthur’s family and I’d like to share
Nicole
reading that letter to you to you today
my name is Nicole and I’m the one that
donated a kidney to Arthur this is a
letter that was written to me by Marilyn
Arthur
after the surgery and it means the world
to me
darris Nicole there are not words I can
use to express my gratitude for your
gift to earth they’re in our family it
was so unexpected a real miracle I thank
God that he heard my hearts cry seeing
Arthur’s suffer day after day left us so
broken you are an example to
every person we tell our story that
there is kindness of the most generous
and selfless kind your legacy to my
family will be imprinted in our hearts
you are beautiful and caring and
courageous I will thank God every day
and pray that God will reward you with
joy and provision we love you Nicola
love Arthur Morrell and their four
children this is the gift that I’ve
received it’s not amazing that is the
boomerang effect right there you know
the amazing thing is I think Nicole is
somewhere in this audience today she
Nicole could you stand up I’m not sure
if you are or not
and so as I leave you today I hope my
story was not a disturbing story
maybe the bold story might have been but
I want you to know that I would not be
here today had it not been for many
people who took a chance on me and
provided a miracle to me and that’s
really what we all are in this room
where miracle makers we can make
miracles happen for our children we can
make miracle miracles happen for our
spouses we can make miracles happen for
our friends and we can make miracles
happen for strangers I encourage you
today that you go out and you spend time
away from this social media thing with
your nose planted in it and actually
look at people see people see their need
and create memorable moments for them be
a difference maker for them make them
feel good about themselves because as we
travel down this road that we’re heading
in the world we need more people to
stand up and make a difference make a
miracle happen for people so that they
like themselves
and they do good for the world and I
thank you for your time today [Applause]