A speech made by Andy's brother Mike, for his grade 8 class.
Public Speaking Assignment - by Mike Moffitt - Grade 8
Fellow Classmates:
Today, I have chosen to speak about my brother "ANDY". He lost his life because
of a senseless act of violence.
A Terrible Tragedy
The door bell ran at 4 a.m. two days before Christmas. I jumped out of my bed. I thought it
was my brother Andy. Instead it was a policeman telling us Andy would never be coming home.
Never again would I be able to get that big bear hug he would always give me.
It was like a bomb had gone off. We were all frozen in time. We couldn't believe what the
policeman was saying. Andy was DEAD! He told us Andy had stepped in to break up a fight. He
was only trying to keep the peace.
Andy was my best friend and I loved him with all my heart. He was always there for me from
the minute I was born. He always wanted to be a big brother and when he was 11 years old his
wish came true, and I came into his life.
Andy lost his life much too soon. He wasn't ready to leave this world. He loved life and was
looking forward to a wonderful future. His dream was to become an engineer.
Andy never realized that a person could be so evil as to pull a knife and stab someone. He
always wanted people to get along.
Andy holding his special wish
Andy has touched many hearts in this world. My older brother Rod Jr., who is an engineer, designed
and dedicated a web site in memory of Andy. He wants the world to know about him. My family have
received many e-mails from across the world. We received one from Singapore just last week.
Many people thank us for sharing Andy's story with them. Some tell us that after reading about
Andy, they will never take life for granted again.
I have many great memories of Andy and they are safe in my heart and no one can ever take them away
from me. I will share one of many with you.
The first year Andy went off to university he was coming home almost every week-end. We all missed
each other. On one visit Andy decided to come home around 2 o'clock in the morning. When he pulled
up in the driveway he realized that he did not have his house key. He did not want to wake us up so
he decided to jump the back gate. He wanted to see if my bedroom window was opened. It was. He
spotted my soaker shooter and filled it with pool water. What he did NOT know was that my dad was
sleeping in my bed. My dad thought it was raining because he was getting all wet. He got up to
shut the window - and to his surprise heard Andy laughing his head off. By that time, my dog started
barking and we all got up. We all ended up laughing. My parents went back to bed and I stayed up the
rest of the night talking and joking with Andy.
Dad and his three sons
There is one message I want to pass on to all of you. We are the next generation. Someday we will
be the ones making important decisions as to how to make our world a better and safer place to live.
We will be fulfilling our own dreams. Some of us will be engineers, doctors, lawyers and who knows
what - maybe the next Prime Minister. We will be setting the example for younger people.
One very important lesson I have learned from Andy's tragic death is we must have compassion for each
other. Violence is NOT to be part of our society and shouldn't be. A person should never carry weapons
such as knives on them. Knives KILL!
If a knife was never pulled out in the early morning of Dec. 23, l998, my brother Andy would be here
today. Life would have gone on normally for my family and me as well. We will be asking why this
happened for the rest of our lives, again and again.
Mike and Andy having a game of Nintendo
I will never forget Andy. He lives in my heart and in all the hearts of all those who knew him and
loved him as well.
Something good had to come out of this terrible tragedy. The University of Ottawa set up a scholarship
in Andy's name. It is called "The Andrew Moffitt Memorial Scholarship Fund". When people from
across Canada and even the United States heard about what happened to Andy, donations poured in. We have
also done many fund raisers. Andy's fund is sitting at a remarkable $155 thousand dollars.
This is Andy's legacy. He will be touching Engineering students at the University of Ottawa for generations
to come. They will learn of Andy's sacrifice. The first of many scholarships in Andy's name will soon be
given out at the university.
Mike playing on the piano
One of the qualities the recipient must demonstrate is "compassion" and also be a very caring
person - because this is what Andy was.
As I end my talk today, I want everyone to remember that life is precious and never take it for granted.
There is a special quotation on a medal in the United States that is given out to people who risk their
lives to saves others.
It reads:
"There is no greater love than a man who lays down his life for a friend"
This quotation describes my special brother ANDY.......
