Motivational TED talks
TED Talks are a conglomeration of different
speakers on various topics ranging from science to technology to global issues.
TED stands for technology, education, and design. I had no idea that TED meant anything;
I just presumed that was the founders’ name. TED is owned by the Sapling Corporation
and it is a non-profit organization. TED was
established in 1996 by Chris Anderson, who was, at the time he came up with TED,
a magazine publishing entrepreneur.
The goal of the foundation is to foster the spread of great ideas.
It aims to provide a platform for the world's smartest thinkers, greatest
visionaries and most-inspiring teachers, so that millions of people can gain a
better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to
help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no
greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea (TED,n.d).
A few of the TED talks
really stuck out to me and they are: Drew Dudley discussing lollipop moments,
Steve Jobs giving a graduation speech, Aimee Mullins, a double amputee, telling
the listeners about the power of words.
The other day in my digital
documents class, a fellow student presented her project on TED Talks. She chose a particular speech by Drew Dudley
that talked about “Lollipop Moments”.
These moments are a time in your interaction with someone else when you
have a significant impact on the other person’s life. Mr. Dudley came up with this while he was
handing out lollipops before one of his speeches. He walked up to a high school aged boy, handed
him a lollipop, and told the boy that he should give it to the teenaged girl
standing next to him in line. The boy did give the lollipop to the girl next to
him and they actually started dating.
How did Mr. Dudley know this? He
was sent an invitation to their wedding!
All it took was one lollipop and a minute of time to change two lives.
(Dudley, 2012)
I hope that one day I get to
experience many of those kinds of moment.
I have already experienced one.
At my very first public speaking event, which was to a group of high
school students, I noticed one girl in particular. I
noticed her because she had a limp that is like the one I have. It is not a limp from a hurt leg—it is a limp
that is pretty significant. However, when she sat down, I lost her in the
crowd. After my speech, I opened up the
floor for questions and she did not speak. After all the questions were asked, I
said that I would be around somewhere on the perimeter of the room, in case
anyone wanted to come speak to me one on one. I walked to the back of the room
and an older lady approached me with tears in her eyes. The girl I had noticed
who had a limp like mine was a bit behind the lady. What happened next was
heart breaking, but joyful at the same time. The lady turned out to be the
girl’s mom. She thanked me for telling my story because most high school kids
do not think bad things can happen to them.
While her mother was speaking to me, the girl walked closer and
held out her hand. She also thanked me
for telling my story. She said that she
understood what I was talking about when I said that I was determined to get
better and that doing so was hard. I
expected her to say that she had also been in a bad car accident. This was not the case. She told me that she had leukemia and that
she had been in a coma for short while.
She was treated differently at school, too. People there acted like she might be
contagious. She said that she struggled
with feeling different and that it was nice to know that someone who faced
similar struggles in life had over come them.
She said that she now had someone to look up to as a role model. Her mom pulled me aside and told me how much
my story had impacted her little girl.
She said that she did not leave her daughter alone at any time because
she feared what the girl might to do herself.
The illness had taken its toll and the young girl was still trying to
cope with all of the hurt.
I hope that I do have many more
moments like that. Because that feeling, I had when I was told that, was
indescribable. I wish that everyone
could have that feeling just once in their lives. It is phenomenal.
TED talks have various speakers and
topics such as a Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford colleges’ graduation, where he states
that he never graduated college. He invented almost everything from the Apple Company. It is amazing that he did not have a college
degree, but was one of the worlds’ richest men. That just proves that you can
do anything that you wish to. He calls
that speech, “Connecting the Dots (Jobs, 2005), Even if the dots do not really
seem to fit together with each other to connect them and make a picture, in the
end they will. Basically if you just go
with the flow of life that all things will eventually connect and make sense.
Then I came across Aimee Mullins, a double amputee but holds records for
running.(Mullins, 2009) She did not let her injury get the best of her, much
like I refuse to allow my injury to have the best of me. I admire people who
like myself have overcome major adversity that would have crushed many people. It
is sort of bitter sweet to realize that I am not the only one who is willing to
put in the hard work in order to accomplish something which seems to be bigger
than myself.
I encourage you to go to Ted.com and
find one that you are interested in. All of these talks are very inspirational.
Works Cited
Dudley, D. (2012, February 11) Drew Dudley everyday
leadership [video file].
Retrieved
from http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership.html
Mullins, Aimee. (2009) Changing
my legs - and my mindset [Video File].
Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_on_running.html
Jobs, Steve. (2005)how to live before you die[video file].
TED (n.d.) About TED> Who we are>Who owns TED [web page].
Retrieved
from http://www.ted.com/pages/42
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