Last Monday I heard one of the
most inspiring and motivating Ted Talks ever. It was entitled The Three Things
I Learned While My plane Crashed (http://www.ted.com/talks/ric_elias.html)
The protagonist and teller of the story, Rick Elias, was brief but concise in
his speech describing the three things he learned in that traumatic experience.
First, the fact that it all changes in an instant; second, that we must reject all
negative energy; and third, we have to be the best parent we can.
Even though Rick’s speech seems to
be full of commonplaces and clichés, it can be said that he has indeed been
given a gift, one that allowed him to see into the future and have the
opportunity to come back. Is it possible to learn from this kind of words? Or
we just have to go through extreme experiences to see their real meaning?
Although not all of us have been
through such an extremely intense event as an imminent plane crash, we all have
had to deal with challenging events at some point of our lives. An accident, a
surgery or a final exam, a relationship that failed or even a pessimistic
relative who criticises everything we do can be examples of them. And, even
though it sounds as a cliché, those situations have taught us something, and we
wouldn’t know everything we know now if we hadn’t lived them. Moreover, we
wouldn’t be the persons we are now. It is such a pity we don’t realize at the
exact moment, but after we have managed to succeed (or not).
From my personal experience I can
say that life gives us new chances to do what we weren’t able to do before. The
chances are that we will encounter difficult situations or moments of
uncertainty, but our reactions and actions to face them, are what later will
build our personality. But for what we have lived, we wouldn’t be able to grasp
their full significance.
In addition, I would like to say
that more than being a good parent, I think what is important is being a good
person, and the rest will come along.
Do you know? I have been to the death doors twice: Once, in 1991, when I crashed the car I was driving... against a guilty and awful stone. (How I hated it!). I almost died. And I was pregnant with my son David by then. The second time happened in 1997. By then, I lost a little baby I was carrying inside, and I almost die. I was in Intensive Cares for 5 days and woke up asking for the baby. How sad, isn´t it? But what I learnt from all those experiences is that we need to live our lives at the extreme! Life has been provided to us by our God, it is a gift, so we should take advantage of it !
ResponderBorrarI totally agree with you Adela!
BorrarHi Fernanda. I agree with you. I think that every experience we have to go through shapes our personality. And it is also true that there are certain episodes in life which make us reflect on the kind of life we are leading and how to change it for the better. Once, I had a terrible car accident and ended up with the car I was driving upside down. I saved my life thanks to the seat belt. That moment has made me appreciate life much more than I used to do. And that implies considering aspect such as what I do, what I want to become, the relationship I have with my family, friends and acquaintances, etc. It is so scary to be about to die. You realize that you want your life and that it is in your hands to make it better.
ResponderBorrarI think that you are right. In my opinion, we all face different difficult situations, or situations that bring us down but, I think that not all of us has the strength to overcome those situations and make a change. What this man face was an NDE and there he could see what he needed to change in his life and did it. Maybe many times we do realize what we should do better, or what we should change but, then, we do nothing about it. But your reflection is actually really good and I agree with you! ;)
ResponderBorrarI agree with Marcela. Experiences shape our personality. And those experiences, negative or positive, determine our future attitudes and decisions. I loved that Ted Talk. It was sweet and short. The speaker could make clear everything he felt and, that's my point, he could think and talk about it because he actually FELT it. Sadly, it is really difficult to learn from other's experiences. We have to LIVE it in order to internalize it and act accordingly.
ResponderBorrarI agree with you Agustina, we can only consider other people's experiences as examples but we have to through them in orter to lear from them.
ResponderBorrarIn my case, I was not the one going through this kind of situation you are menctioning Fer, but my brother was. This year (it was the beginning of our winter holidays) my brother got really really sick and he almost died. Of course my parents didn´t tell me anything because they didn´t want me to start worrying and left my university stuff aside. Anyway, my brother was in a hospital for a whole month until he finally recovered. But I can say that this particular event has completely changed the life of our family, especially my father´s. He used to be a really reserved man. I have never seen him crying or the kind. And it was during this particular situation that I was able to discover how sensitive and caring he is. I can say that this particular event has made us stronger as a family. Even the relationship between my mom and dad is different. They have always been a great couple but now it seems that they are teenagers once again. So, yes, sometimes it is neccesary to go through certain harsh situations in order to change your perspective towards life.
ResponderBorrarWe all go through hard times and I like to say that we don't have to judge people for their actions or attitudes, we don't know what kind of battle they are fighting.
Borrar