Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Liz Waid.
Voice 2
And I’m Adam Navis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
The first thing you notice about David Roche is his face. It is not beautiful! The left side of his face is marked with an area of dark colour. His face, neck and chin seem to be all one. He has false teeth. Much of his face is covered with a mass of blue coloured cells. His voice is low and difficult to understand.
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on David Roche. David has found a way to beat the problems of living with a different kind of face. He uses his face as a tool for hope. This is David Roche’s story.
Voice 1
David was born in the late 1940s. Doctors looked at the mass of cells growing on his face. They treated him with radiation. The radiation reduced the mass of cells, but also marked his skin. It was so bad that and doctors had to rebuild David’s face.
Voice 2
Even so, David says that he did not have a difficult time as a child. His parents loved him. His mother always told him, “David, you are so intelligent! You could be anything you want to be.” At home, no one talked about his face. David’s parents treated him the same way as they treated his brothers and sisters.
Voice 1
But David had a lot of questions about his face. Every time he saw his face he knew he was not like everyone else. But because his family wanted him to feel normal, he never felt safe to ask “Why did this happen to me?”
Voice 2
Life did not stay easy for David Roche. As a young adult, David decided he wanted to be a priest in the Church. He travelled with his father to meet with two priests. These men would advise him on what to do. This is how he describes his meeting:
Voice 3
“I told them I loved Jesus. I told them I may have a calling to be a priest. They left the room. My father and I looked out the window and waited. The priests returned a few minutes later and said, ‘David, we do not think that you have the call to be a priest. Because of how you look, people would not respect you as a priest.’”
Voice 1
David was shocked. He had been afraid about not being accepted to the school, but he never expected to hear this. To him, it was as if these “men of God” were telling him he was a monster. This incident changed David. In public places he began to move to the far left of the room so his bad side would not be seen. He avoided places where he would meet new people. He did not want people to look at him or point at him. But he could not avoid everyone.
Voice 2
One day, in a store, a man wearing nice clothes blocked David’s path. David tried to step around him but the man would not move. The man insulted him. He spat on David and told him that he looked horrible - the ugliest thing he had ever seen. David tried to go on with his day, but he could not forget the man.
Voice 1
David told a friend what had happened in the store. The friend told him that while the man looked good to other people he probably did not look good to himself. This made David think for a long time. This is what he decided:
Voice 3
“I believe that we each have a place within us where there is fear. It is a fear that other people will not accept us, that no-one can touch us. I know now that when people turn away, they are not turning away from my face, but from their own fears.”
Voice 2
With this idea in his head, David Roche began to use his face to help other people. Now he travels around the world speaking to business people and school children. He even spoke in front of a President of the United States.
Voice 1
It took David a long time to accept who he was. As a child he prayed that God would send a miracle to change his face and make him normal. But God did not do that. David’s miracle came much more slowly.
Voice 2
Over time, he learned to accept who he was. He learned to hold on to love and grace. He learned to share his story with other people. This is what he talks about as he speaks to people. He calls it his "Church of Eighty Percent Sincerity". It is not a church with walls and a floor. It is an idea.
Voice 1
In the Church of Eighty Percent Sincerity, a person does not have be perfect one hundred percent of the time. Just try to do the right thing eighty percent of the time. The other twenty percent is where mistakes are made. David encourages people to accept themselves as people who are not perfect, but are trying to do their best.
Voice 2
He tells people that life is full of pain, so when a person feels love or grace, they should hold on to it. David writes this:
Voice 3
“In life, you need to have your eyes open, just in case something good does happen. Those times when you see that life is good only last about half a second. These times are not as large or striking as miracles. They come up on you quietly. They can be very frightening. In your whole life you may only get a total of four minutes of these times of grace. You learn to hold on to and extend every second.”
Voice 1
Another thing David tells people is to share themselves with other people. When they do, they will find out that people have a lot in common - are all similar. There may be something that makes you feel shame, but if you share it you will find that everyone has something they feel shame about.
Voice 3
“My face is different, but my experiences are the same as everyone else’s. Every person feels different, and in some way not accepted. No matter what our life situation, we all must learn to value ourselves and the gifts that we bring to the world”
Voice 2
It is easy to see David Roche and only see his face. In fact, it is easy to define anyone by just one thing. It may be the way they look, what they do, what language they speak, or where they are from. But if we take a second look at someone, we will find out that we are not so different after all.
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