Teenager Cancer patient wins Quote of the Year
Dr Heather Kavan – 
For the first time in four years, the winner of Massey University ‘Quote of the Year’ is unrelated to the world of politics.
Christchurch Boys High School Head Boy Jake Bailey received an unprecedented 77% of the public vote to become the winner.
The secondary school student, who is being treated for an aggressive cancer, attended his end-of-year prize-giving in a wheelchair to deliver a heartfelt speech.
The winning quote, “Here is the thing – none of us gets out of life alive. So be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities that you have” came from that speech.
The scale of Mr Bailey’s win was completely unexpected.
Landslide win
While there was always a strong chance that his quote could win, nobody predicted such a landslide. Even in the first days of the competition, well before Prime Minister John Key was wearing a bracelet with Jake’s quote on it, Jake had 73% of the votes.
Every now and then, a person comes along and inspires great feelings of affection in New Zealanders – and this was certainly the case with Jake.
I have watched the speech several times, and it is clear from the footage that something special happened in the room when Jake spoke. Online comments show that several viewers cried from the beginning of the speech to the end.
Unusual factors
The extraordinary circumstances surrounding the speech were also key to the quote’s win.
First, there is the fact that Jake wrote the speech before he was told that if he did not get medical treatment, he would not be alive to deliver it.
Therefore, the first part of the quote ‘Here’s the thing: none of us get out of life alive’ has a new emotional meaning.
Then there is the strength it took for Jake to give the speech. His face was pale and his voice trembled with emotion, but he used strong words: ‘Be gallant, be great.’
Jake’s speech embodied the qualities of love and strength, which are already a powerful blend, but then the speech reached a much wider audience through traditional and social media.
Something unexpected happens – the students break into a spontaneous rousing haka and rendition of the school song.
By chance, the speech and audience response were recorded, as the school had arranged a live-stream when staff thought Jake would be viewing the prize-giving from hospital.
PM supports
The footage went viral, and even the Prime Minister was wearing Jake’ quotation around his wrist.
The quote becomes what I call a signature quote. The words embody Jake’s message and the message is his life.
There is also an important element of beating the odds to the quote.
It is extremely hard to amaze people with an inspirational quote these days because social media are saturated with them.
People get tired of constantly being told to better themselves.
Softening resistance
But Jake’s story softens our resistance, and his words inspired in a way that would have been unimaginable at the time he wrote them.”
A record number of votes were cast in this year’s competition – a total of 7784 compared to 4198 in 2014.
The very distant second and third places were taken out by Steve Hansen’s “Just my arm” (his answer when asked what else he had up his sleeve during the Rugby World Cup) and ACT leader David Seymour’s “The French love the coq” (when asked if his Silver Fern pin would be replaced with a red peak flag).
Dr Heather Kavan is Senior Lecturer and Speech-Writing Specialist at the Massey University School of Communication, Journalism & Marketing. She runs the Annual ‘Quote of the Year Competition.’ Email: h.kavan@massey.ac.nz
