I bet you all didn’t know some of these people, neither did
I, until 2 years back a teacher of mine introduced me to a few of these great
men and women! Some still alive and spreading their magic! I just want to show
all of you the infinite capabilities that we possess. Despite all of our body
and mind being ridiculously decent and talented, we hold ourselves back. But
here are some people who didn’t, in spite of being shown down at first. We too
must heighten our will power by looking up to these wonderful beings!
Gautami’s Top 5 inspirational people, HERE WE GO:
1.
Nick Vujicic: Born on 4th December,
1982 with Tetra-Amelia Syndrome, a medical condition where you lack all four
limbs and develop malformations in the reproductive organs, skull etc. Yet, Nick never learnt to stop. Of course he was bullied and underestimated by
everybody around him, but during his teens, he learnt a few lessons that changed
his life. At the age of 17, he started his own non-profit organisation called
Life Without Limbs. He is one of the greatest motivational speakers you’d come
across. He focuses more on teenage issues, but also gives speeches at
congregations and to corporate audiences.
He’s an Australian Christian evangelist, public speaker, author and has also acted in short films and won
awards for it. His organisation’s link is: http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/ and one his greatest speeches is
this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJvEoLPLIg8 watch the entire think, trust me, you’ll bless his soul all your
life for this metamorphosing speech of his. And he’s still alive and happily married! ^__^
2.
Kim Peek: November 1951-Decemeber 2009, lived the
smartest savant on Earth, he was gradually termed as the ‘Megasavant’ i.e a
person with unusual mental abilities and learning power. He would read
something once and remember it throughout his life time! He was born with
macrocephaly (abnormally large head), and an encephalocelea blister into which
the back of this brain was protruded. At the age of 3, the blister retracted
and pulled a nodule into his cerebellum and destroyed most of it. An X-Ray
showed that he had one solid brain hemisphere. The doctors had lost hope but
his father never believed so and introduced Kim to books. It is said that he
could read 2 books at once and still remember everything. He indeed was blessed
rather than deprived! Watch the movie
titled ‘The Rain Man’ to know a little about him. (The movie is a slightly improvised
version of Kim’s real life)
3.
Mark Inglis: Age 55 and still living, he is just
another mountaineer, with a twist which he does not take as a challenge at all.
He rather believes he received a blessing in disguise. Mark left for a normal day
at work as a search and rescue mountaineer at New Zealand’s Mt. Cook when a
blizzard struck and relegated him into an ice cave for 13 days. He was rescued
but had to get both his legs amputated due to severe frost bite. Do you think
it stopped him? Never. He still scales mountains and in May 2006, he became the
first ever double amputee to have scaled Mt. Everest. While doing so, a fixed
line-anchor failed and Mark fell and broke one of his prosthetic legs, he still
didn’t quit, he fixed them with duct tape and ordered one to be brought up from
the base camp, and he continued successfully! He is a motivational speaker too. Discovery
Channel shot his Everest hike titled “Everest: Beyond the Limit”, and here is
one of his speeches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7yT1S3JTO8 do watch :D
4.
Stephen Hawking: Someone we are all acquainted with,
is yet another example of incredible will power and determination! He suffers
from Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS, which is a motor neuron disease due to which
he cannot move any of his body parts. Stephen was so determined that he
outlived his life expectancy. He continued
to think, dream and achieve despite of the limitations and had a speech
generating device made for him to read his mind (not literally). He gave his
theories, completed education, married twice and has 3 kids. Watch the movie “The Theory of Everything” to know about his life and his first marriage. Or you
could read his book titled ‘A Brief History of Time’!
5.
Wilma
Rudolph: At the age of 4, in Tennessee, Wilma was diagnosed with polio,
followed by scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox AND double pneumonia,
one after the other quite quickly! She was born in a poor family with 22
siblings, Wilma being the 20th, she sometimes had to wear dresses
made up of rough flour sacks due to the poverty! She had to wear a brace on her
left leg after she recovered, which resulted in her leg to twist, which was
cured later on, by doctors. She had learnt to dream big since childhood. The
doctors had said that she would never walk again but her mother rubbished the
statements and gave rise to the Fastest Woman In the World during the 1960s. She
won the bronze for 4x100m relay in the 1956 Olympics at age 16 and at the 1960
Olympics she won golds in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. She worked against
racism and for disabled children and took up a variety of hosting jobs later.
We too have enormous talent residing inside us, waiting to
be recognized, but why wait? Today’s time doesn’t wait for anyone and neither
will we! This was purely for all of you to feel blessed that we do not have any
disabilities limiting us, but, we still underestimate ourselves. It is time to
recognize your worth and work hard each day, like it’s your last. Make your
stay on this planet worthwhile, the least you can do is spread some joy and be
honest! :’D Best of Luck!
