My Top 5 Inspirations!

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 4^th 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 20^th, 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!