A TED Night

Photo Credit: Google Image Search

Tonight I watched a TED talk about a man who searched for the man who broke his neck. The name of the talk alone intrigued me but what I found was an exceptional story teller, who in the process of telling his story of hardship, pain, and a lot of loss you could see in his face and eyes that he was on top of the cliff he'd fallen off of by accident. He was in a car accident in Israel when he was 19. His neck snapped and he spent the better part of his life healing and learning to walk again. Years later he now walks with a cane. He's become a writer even with limited use of his hands.

He went back to Israel last year and met the man who had driven the car that upon hitting the vehicle he was in, snapped his neck. The man's reactions during their afternoon together showed him that life isn't about what happens to you, it's what you do or how you deal with what happens to you. He quoted Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." He went to that man to get an apology. But when he met with the man, he could see that he would never get one, and that the man had spent his life trying to forget the mistakes he had made.

He left that meeting knowing he was ok and knowing the man wasn't ok. It was quite an inspiring story.

Then I pulled up another one that is a commencement speech at a Harvard Graduation ceremony, given by JK Rowling. She talked all about how she believes failure is something we should all experience because it teaches you what you really are made of. She said when she was at the verge of homelessness, had lost her husband to divorce and had nothing, she knew she could focus all her energy onto the things she truly valued because she had nothing else to distract her. My favorite thing from this first section of her speech is this:

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life" - JK Rowling, Harvard Commencement speech 2008.

It is true, what happens to you doesn't define you. You are how you deal with and what you do with the things that have happened to you. I love this process of thinking. I believe it is truth.

My favorite part of the end of her speech was her closing statement. "As is a tale, so is life. Not how long it is, but how good it is."

Both speakers are writers. Both have such a way with words that they are worth listening to if you get the time. I have posted both videos below so that you can choose to watch none, one, or both of them.

Joshua Prager's Speech

JK Rowling's Speech