BEYOND the BOOKS
Youth motivational speaker David Flood spoke to all Middle School students at a morning assembly, then broke out with smaller groups of eighth-graders (including Andrew Casturo-Burnette, Anthony Deosa, and Brooks Ferguson) to further the discussion about human dignity, respect, and understanding.
autism,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or for Justin. “But if you can connect with the place in yourself where you can realize when you know someone near you is lonely and needs to be reached out to — that’s the message. That’s what’s important.” Flood encouraged his audience of Middle School students to conquer three
Visiting Dad Encourages New Kind of Selflessness
I
N A handful of ways, Justin
Flood is just like any other
Award Winners Behind The Lens Santi Riera ’17 (left) and Dan Dachille ’19 submitted photos to the Greenwich Magazine Photo Competition — and now number among the winners! Both were published in the magazine’s February edition.
high-school kid. He loves
anime and the WWE. He plays ice hockey and practices tae kwon do. He enjoys exploring haunted
challenges as they thought about their
houses and watching scary movies. But the
formative years and their immediate and
similarities stop soon after that. Justin, you
long-term futures.
see, has autism. He struggles in social situations and doesn’t quite know how he fits in — or what he’s going to do with his life upon gradu-
on the inside,” he said. “I want you to look two adults in the eye
ation. He’s lonely. He lacks a filter. Justin,
and thank them for keeping all the kids
though, will forever be his father’s hero.
safe at Brunswick.
David Flood, a youth motivational speaker who has visited with more than 150,000 students, shares his son’s story with
“And lastly, no one eats alone. Reach out to someone who you know is down. “Your life is not about you. It’s about all
audiences across the country as he inspires
the people around you — all the people you
them to value human dignity, under-
love, and all the people you can touch. It’s
standing, patience, forgiveness, and love.
about being selfless — not thinking less of
“I didn’t come here to talk to you about
50 | TIMES
“I challenge you to stop looking at people on the outside and start looking at people
yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
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