“Ideas worth spreading,” TED’s (Technology Entertainment Design) motto, perfectly describes what its recorded talks do. At different TED conventions, both national and local, entertainers and professionals give talks about a variety of subjects to an audience. The point of these talks is to inspire and spread innovative ideas about anything and everything; each talk is recorded and posted online and on Netflix for the world to see. TED Talks give us all a new perspective, new thoughts and ideas we might not have had before. It’s important to think and consider our surroundings, and TED Talks gives us the ability to do that much more easily. Of course, even a short guide to the best TED Talks doesn’t do them justice, as there’s too many to watch and so many different ways to be inspired.
A Girl Who Demanded School
Several years ago, Kenyan native Kakenya Ntaiya did what few others have done for an education: she underwent genital mutilation, the extremely painful female form of circumcision, so that her father would let her go to high school. From then on she went to college in the U.S. and eventually started a school for the girls in her native village. Ntaiya speaks about the power of education; she sacrificed part of herself so that a new generation of girls could easily have what she didn’t: choices. In the US we’ve made a lot of strides in women’s rights, so it’s difficult to imagine the kind of pain a woman in Kenya like Ntaiya had to go through to be able to achieve her dream of becoming a teacher, and then opening a school. Ntaiya states that education is a gift, a treasure. And even though the education system may be flawed, learning is invaluable. Especially when high schoolers today take education for granted, Ntaiya can inspire in us a new appreciation of what we have.
My Philosophy For a Happy Life
Seventeen-year-old Sam Berns begins his TED Talk by explaining the extremely rare illness he was diagnosed with as a toddler. Berns has progeria, a disorder that causes his body to age extremely quickly. The talk then shifts to Berns detailing how he lives a happy life, even with his limitations. He tries to live in the moment and make the best of his situation. He adapts to the hardships that come his way, even building a lightweight harness for his drum so that he could play with his school’s marching band. As someone whose illness limited him more than almost any boy his age, he gives a new perspective. If someone facing that many problems a day can still view life positively, then there’s no excuse for anyone else. Since his talk, Berns has passed away. But the message of his TED Talk and the message of his life remain: savor every day and appreciate the bigger picture, because life is all too transient.
According to chef Jamie Oliver in his 2010 TED Talk, Americans are digging themselves into a hole. Obesity kills four Americans every 18 minutes and continually shortens the average American’s life expectancy. The point of his speech is that although Americans are facing a huge problem, it can be solved starting with children. Oliver talks about how nutrition in schools isn’t as good as it could be. Children have a hard time even telling apart turnips and potatoes. At one point in the talk, Oliver dumped an entire wheelbarrow of sugar cubes onto the TED stage to represent the amount of sugar kids will drink from milk cartons in just five years. It was shocking; it’s hard to imagine how much sugar, saturated fat and salt we consume until we see it dumped in front of us. The talk mentions Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity as part of the solution, but comes to the conclusion that we can still do so much better. As cliched as it sounds, children and teenagers are the future. But we’re also the solution.
Understandably, this is the most-viewed TED Talk to date. In it, Sir Ken Robinson talks about how modern school systems — both in America and abroad — are flawed. He says that schools nowadays have a hierarchy: math and science above everything, then social studies, language and finally arts. When schools focus on sciences and humanities and leave the arts for last, it staunches kids’ creativity and the ability to enjoy education. It’s easy to see why Robinson’s talk has over 10 million views. The issue he chose to speak about affects us all, whether we love writing or solving equations. The more we learn to hate school and zone out during class, the more we kill our ability to live up to our potential. Without equal focus on all subjects, children and teenagers lose hope and forget their dreams. Robinson inspires reform in a world where many kids aren’t interested in the subjects they’re learning about, but need creativity to thrive.
Magician David Blaine recently broke the world record for the longest time a human has held their breath — 17 minutes. After spending months preparing to break the record, Blaine encountered numerous setbacks along the way. He did everything he could, from dropping 50 pounds to sleeping in a tent that simulated high altitudes. Blaine spent much of his talk detailing the impossible conditions he had to endure, but in the end he accomplished the feat. Spending months of your life in preparation for a feat that even doctors say is impossible can make whatever is going on in anyone’s life seem inconsequential. But everyone can relate to Blaine’s story; his talk is a tale of human perseverance. As humans we must test our limits and set impossible goals, because we never know what we can achieve. We’re resilient and we are amazing, and limitations can’t hold us back.
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