Nick Vujicic: A living refutation of abortion’s culture of death

There are some people whose lives make you reconsider the way you’re living your own.

Nick Vujicic is one of them.

We live in a culture increasingly comfortable deciding which lives are worth living.

Born in Australia without arms or legs, Vujicic faced challenges few of us can imagine. Even with the love and support of his family, bullying, loneliness, and depression took a heavy toll. By the age of 10, he had sunk so deeply into despair that he contemplated taking his own life.

But Nick soon found something stronger than despair: hope in his Christian faith.

He came to understand that his life was not a mistake and that his disability didn’t rob him of meaning or purpose.

Vujicic went on to become an international best-selling author, husband, father, and one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in the world. His 2013 appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s “Lifeclass” introduced his story to a global audience. To date, he’s spoken in person to 11 million people across 87 countries.

Now his journey comes to theaters Friday in the documentary “No Limbs, No Limits: The NickV Story.” The film traces Nick’s struggle with anger, depression, and hopelessness — and his discovery that life is worth living because every person has value and purpose.

That message could hardly come at a better time.

Search for meaning

Across the Western world, we are living through a crisis of loneliness and a search for meaning. Young people are more connected technologically than any generation in history, yet many feel profoundly isolated.

Who am I? Why am I here? What difference can one person make?

Nick has spent much of his adult life answering those questions.

His answer is simple: You matter. Your life has value. You were made for a purpose.

Our limitations, disappointments, and wounds do not determine our worth. The challenge is to recognize our value and decide what we will do with the life we have been given.

That’s one reason Nick’s story resonates so deeply with me.

Redefining perseverance

I first heard of him in 2009 when he co-starred in “The Butterfly Circus,” a short film starring and produced by my friend Eduardo Verastegui. I was intrigued by this young man with no arms or legs who could swim better and faster than I could.

And I say that as a marathoner.

Running marathons has taught me something about perseverance, but watching Nick navigate life without limbs quickly puts my own physical challenges into perspective.

I began following him on social media. Over the years, I watched Nick marry, become a dad, and continue showing millions of people that what we lack does not define who we are.

His life declares that no human being is a mistake. No life is disposable. No person should be judged by what they cannot do or whether that life meets somebody else’s definition of “quality.”

Every person is unique and unrepeatable.

And every person can make a difference.

That message desperately needs to be heard today.

Culture of death

We live in a culture increasingly comfortable deciding which lives are worth living. Nowhere is that more apparent than with abortion, particularly when an unborn child has been diagnosed with a disability or genetic condition.

A troubling prenatal diagnosis can be devastating, as it was for Nick’s parents. In that moment, fear can quickly take over: This child’s life will be difficult. The family will suffer. Perhaps it would be better if this life never began at all.

Nick Vujicic is a living refutation of that philosophy.

Imagine trying to measure the value of Nick’s future before he had even been born.

No arms. No legs. What could he possibly accomplish?

The answer: more than most of us could have imagined.

That question has particular urgency for me because I live in Virginia, where voters this fall will consider a constitutional amendment expanding the so-called right to abortion. The truth is that our broader abortion culture too often treats disability, dependency, and difficult circumstances as reasons to question whether a life should continue.

Against that backdrop comes Nick Vujicic.

Some ask whether a life will be too difficult, too dependent, or too burdensome.

Nick’s life asks a different question: What if we give that child a chance? A chance to surprise us. A chance to love and be loved. A chance to become a husband or wife, a father or mother — or someone whose words might one day save another person’s life.

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Joel Nito/Getty Images

Finding purpose

That is why “No Limbs, No Limits” arrives at precisely the right moment.

The film doesn’t pretend Nick’s journey was easy. He knew rejection, anger, depression, and loneliness. He knew what it was to wonder whether his life was worth living.

Then he discovered that suffering did not have the final word.

Faith did.

Purpose did.

Love did.

Nick’s story makes me admire human life more deeply — disabled and able-bodied alike. It also makes me examine my own.

I run marathons. I have arms. I have legs. I have opportunities Nick could only have dreamed about as a boy.

Am I using them?

Am I loving enough? Serving enough? Am I grateful for another morning, another mile, another opportunity to make a difference?

In an age of loneliness, Nick Vujicic reminds us that no one is unnecessary.

In an age of despair, he reminds us that circumstances are not destiny.

And in an age searching for meaning, he offers an answer our culture badly needs to hear: Your life has value. Your life has purpose. Now go find it.