Azimi inspires with grace and gratitude

Young Australian of the Year Akram Azimi was at Bunbury Catholic College on Wednesday morning, spreading a message of gratitude and the importance of service to the community.

A proud Rotarian, Mr Azimi spoke at the school after an earlier appearance at the Quality Lord Forrest Hotel organised by the Rotary Club of South Bunbury, and before a lunch meeting with Rotary Club of Bunbury Leschenault members.

“I told a story from my own life about a young boy that I saw in the streets of Pakistan eating out of a rubbish bag and coming to the realisation that the only thing that separated me and that little boy was the blind chance of birth,” he said.

“I suppose what I really want to do is give these students a sense of perspective because there is a world out there where people don’t have the privileges that we do.

“We shouldn’t feel guilty about the privileges that we have in life but we should see them for the blessings that they are and let that become gratitude.

“Once you let your heart become filled with gratitude you can not help but give back.”

A refugee from Afghanistan, Mr Azimi also spoke about how he overcame the occasional racism and ostracism that greeted him when he first arrived in Australia.

“One particular example I can remember, and this was the last time I was properly bullied, was in the schoolyard when a boy who had been mean to me for a long time started throwing punches,” Mr Azimi said.

“Rather than hitting him back I started laughing really loudly and the more he tried to punch me the louder I laughed, and he started becoming really enraged.

“After a while something happened. The hate that he was exhibiting towards me started to become ridiculous and he began to shame himself with his own hate and his own violence.”

Bunbury Catholic College Year 8 student Merwin Sunny said he was impressed by Mr Azimi’s decision not to fight back.

“I found it inspiring how he could take that hate inside his heart and not say anything back,” Merwin said.

“He just left it in his heart and didn’t try to hit the bully back.”