1. Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy

As founder of Aravind Eye Hospital, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (“Dr. V”) gave sight and hearing back to millions of people who would otherwise be blind and deaf.

Dr. V. came to the conclusion as a young man that “intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful.” So, instead of retiring at the age of 65, Dr. V. mortgaged his home and opened a hospital to perform free or low-cost cataract surgery – if untreated cataracts can lead to blindness – on poor Indians. In his first year, Dr. V. performed over 5000 surgeries.

• See an article on “Dr. V” in Fast Company:
  http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/43/drv.html

• Aravind Eye Hospital Founder Profile:
  http://www.aravind.org/aboutus/founder.asp

• See his video “Infinite Vision”:
  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-430943131005128104

• See his profile on Wikipedia:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govindappa_Venkataswamy

2. Marian Wright Edelman

Edelman is the author and editor of a number of books on social justice, including Social Injustice and Public Health (2005), which expounds her belief that “a primary goal of public health is to address the root causes of social injustice: widening gaps between rich and poor, the unequal distribution of resources within our society, discrimination, and the disenfranchisement of individuals and groups from the political process.” Edelmen is the founder of Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) an initiative that encourages preventive investment before children get sick or into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown.

• See the profile of the founder of Children’s Defense:
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageNavigator/People_MWE
• See her profile on Wikipedia:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Wright_Edelman
• See her videos on You Tube:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWf-OpQvpKo

3. Byron Katie

Times magazine described Byron Katie as ‘A visionary for the new millenium’. Byron applies the Gandhian concept of “Be the change you want to see in the world” to one’s thoughts, with a deceptively simple technique and stunning clarity. She offers a constant ‘invitation’ to go inside oneself and to take responsibility for any situation by questioning one’s thinking.

Byron Katie’s method is called The Work, and is effective in bringing joy, happines, inner peace and an end to confusion. It has been described as a kind of Socratic Dialogue. “Believing our untrue thoughts is a sure way to scare ourselves to death” Byron Katie. ‘The Work’ has changed the lives of thousands of people.

• See and hear it here:
  Short Video and Audio Clips demonstrating Byron Katie at work
• See the official website for The Work: www.thework.com

4. Muhammad Yunus

Nobel Peace winner in 2006, Professor Muhammad Yunus has transformed Bangladesh and founded a bank that has loaned billions of dollars to millions of poor families, all without any collateral.. This country is the only one in the world which is on course to reach the millennium development goals of reducing poverty by one half by 2015. That is a statistic not to be missed!

His new book “Creating a world without poverty” outlines his vision for the eradication of poverty.

• See his official website:
  http://www.muhammadyunus.org/

• See his profile on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus

5. Mario Capecchi

He lived as a feral child after the Nazis sent his mother to a death camp. His ‘unworthy’ ideas were rejected by the scientific establishment. Last year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for a medical revolution. He made his dreams a reality and never quit. He is truly exceptional!

• See his profile on Wikipedia:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Capecchi
• His Utah Lab Profile:
  http://capecchi.genetics.utah.edu/capecchi.html
• See his article in Time: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1670524,00.html

6. Mimi Silbert

In 1971 Mimi Silbert founded Delancey Street with four residents, a thousand dollar loan and a dream. She envisioned a place where substance abusers, former felons and others who had hit bottom would, through their own efforts, be able to turn their lives around.

Silbert has since built an empire grossing 20 million dollars a year with locations in New York, New Mexico, North Carolina and Los Angeles. She has never accepted a single penny of government funds.

• See Mimi’s interview with PBS:
  http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/silbert.html

• See Mimi’s foundation:
  http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/president.php

• See Mimi’s article “the most successful rehabilitation programme in the world” on BBC:
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6245531.stm

7. Kailash Satyarthi

Kailash Satyarthi has been instrumental in freeing thousands of child slaves from numerous industries. He has evolved various strategies and methods to secure freedom for the slave children. These include direct action, secret raids, judicial interventions, parental motivation, community mobilization, persuading and pressurizing employers, etc. Hundreds of real life stories of his liberation operations have motivated countless people to join the fight against child labor.

• See his official website:
  http://www.kailashsatyarthi.net/

• See his profile on Wikipedia:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kailash_Satyarthi

As you know, this list is by no means complete, there are several truly exceptional people that should be included on this list – so, if you have a blog take some time and write about them also. Let’s give credit where credit is due.

“Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.” – Erma Bombeck

A fixture on the same corner for more than two years, Dave Dessler or Crazzy Dave as he prefers to be called, may be homeless, but he isn’t faceless. With his messianic hair and quick, caustic wit, he has been “busking poetry” that tends to focus on what he senses at street level to survive.   He doesn’t wave a hat at strangers and he never asks for money. Instead he spends his days etching rhymes onto stained pieces of cardboard in colorful shades of permanent marker. However, the poet is, in fact, tired of life on the street. “I’m so mentally and emotionally beat to sh–, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

Fortunately, with the financial backing of Steve Hambling, the president of a local ice-cream shop, Dessler’s poems have now turned into a book, Mindlessly Adrift: My Ottawa Streets, a co-effort with photographer Jean Boulay.   Dessler, who admits to a “checkered past,” hopes the proceeds from the book will be enough to provide a small nest egg to establish his own housing. From there, he hopes to cobble together enough income — his street poetry, possibly a small home business — to get by on his own.

Dessler is one of well-over 5,000 homeless men and women living in the Ottawa area.  It is extremely unfortunate that the homeless are still in large part society’s “visible” invisibles. There is an old saying, that if a problem is well defined then it is half solved. Part of that problem is awareness and it is also a big part of the solution.  The poetry by Dessler reminds us of the unique individuality and creativity of the forgotten. We must ensure that no matter what problems befall any of us, even during the worst of times be sure to lend a helping hand.  Let’s focus on random acts of kindness and work on promoting the social inclusion of homeless people by ensuring equal access to services so they can become a part in the life of the community.

If anyone is interested in chatting more about this topic feel free to contact me anytime!
Respectfully,
Rob

I, of all people, usually never watch Oprah, but my girlfriend kindly insisted that I watch yesterday’s episode (I think it was a repeat). The topic was about two people that have incurable life threatening illnesses and how they now look at life from a different perspective. These two incredibly inspiring people will never take no for an answer. This article in its profoundest sense is about realizing that life is a terminal condition, we are all going to die eventually — but how many of us are truly going to live?

Randy Pausch – “Dream Big and Go For It!”

How many times while you were growing up did you hear, “follow your dreams”? Yet, very few of us actually did. Randy Pausch believes that we should always be dreaming because anything is possible. “Even if we fail at achieving our goal, we still gain a lot by trying for it.” Randy was diagnosed with an incurable form of Pancreatic cancer but instead of being bitter – cancer has pushed him to live! “I needed to make peace with my disease, even if it didn’t go away” said Randy during his moving final lecture at Carnegie Melon University, “lead your life in the right way because charma will take its course and your dreams will come to you.” Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities.

To watch the full version of Randy’s inspirational lecture please click on the video below.

Kris Carr was diagnosed with rare stage four cancer around her liver and lungs in 2003 at the age of 31. However, Kris isn’t focusing on living with cancer. She’s focusing on living her life to the fullest and not letting something she can’t see ruin the opportunities life offers. “I always wonder why, when we are challenged to survive do we give ourselves permission to truly live”, Kris asks. “We waste so much of our life worrying about the future and we should really be living in the moment.” Kris is a true example of someone who has taken desperation and turned it into her own inspiration. She really does have a truly amazing outlook on life.

“We spend most of our lives trying to live life.
Life changes in a moment.” – Kris Carr

It amazes me every time I see people with such unrelenting personal strength and ambition. These two extraordinary people have enriched many lives and motivated others to achieve their full potential. Their amazing outlook on life should teach us to live life every day to the fullest (and not wait until something tragic befalls us to start learning to live.) I could only hope to one day live my life with the same grace, dignity and joy that both Kris Carr and Randy Pausch seem to exhibit.