Each and every one

Challenge Day 6: Still feeling crappy and building abs of steel through about 10,000 fits of a hacking cough a day [driving my co-workers craaazzyyy!], but I am determined to pick up where I left off!

(Go here http://erasethehorizon.blogspot.ca/2012/09/challenging-myself.html  to read the explanation of this challenge and why I'm doing it)

Video of the day - Giles Duley: When a reporter becomes the story (http://www.ted.com/talks/giles_duley_when_a_reporter_becomes_the_story.html)

Thumbnail quote - Not provided, but I'll make my own: "What I want to talk about is the importance of stories ... By listening to other people's stories, I think we can learn about the world, about other people, and get a better understanding."

Why I chose this video - There was a picture of Giles next to the video and, quite frankly, I was curious how a triple amputee could be a reporter. And I got my answer reading his bio - he became an amputee because he was a reporter. Again, it comes down to my interest in social justice, politics, and world events. I just can't get enough.

Summary - Giles Duley was a famous fashion and music photographer [side note: how do you photograph music?] who always had the nagging feeling that he wasn't using his talents in the best way he could. Giles gave up photography and his first job afterwards was as a personal care worker for a young man with very severe autism. Through his time with this young man, Giles came to realize that he could use his talent for photography to tell the stories that weren't being recognized.
Giles traveled around the world. He went to photograph the Rohingya in Burma, and set up a station in which he wanted to take portraits and record the person's story. When hundreds of people showed up, he tried to explain to the village elder that he was not a doctor and couldn't help them. The elder said to him, "They know you are not a doctor. It's really important because somebody is now telling their story."
He went on to spend time with homeless youth in Ukraine, and spent time with troops in Afghanistan. It was there that he stepped on a land-mine and became a triple amputee. After losing both legs and the majority of his left arm, he felt as if his life-work had come to an end, but then he realized that photography was only the tool he had been using to tell stories. He had simply become his own story, a story that would show others what war does to people.
"I think that's what's really key [is this]: we can all make a difference. Everybody here has an ability to use something to make a difference to the world. We can all sit in front of the TV and go 'I don't know what to do about it' and forget about it. The reality is we can all do something. It might just be writing a letter. It might be standing on a soapbox and talking. It might be recording somebody's story and telling it to somebody else. But every single one of us, if we want to make a difference - we can. "

My Take-Away - What more is there to say? I suppose that the belief that everyone can make a difference is something I believe in, and believe in strongly.
I saw a meme once [please don't judge me] that said "Think one tiny person can't make a difference in this world? Try sleeping with one mosquito in your room!" Which is true - I know that if there is a mosquito in my room, I will spend 30 minutes hunting that little bugger down and squashing it because I know the buzzing will wake me up if I don't.
The question remains, however, exactly how one person goes about making enough racket in this world to make a difference. Mind you, my heroes (Corrie Ten Boom, Martin Luther King Jr, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, Stephen Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others) are all individuals who have made great impact on the world. They held adamantly to their beliefs, worked diligently, and many of them made great sacrifices. To be willing to give up your freedom, or your comfort, or your life for your beliefs - for what you fight for to be worth dying for - how can that not make an impact?
I don't know that I have what it takes to sacrifice myself for what I believe, but I hope that I can at least hold to my convictions firmly enough to make some kind of difference. To fight apathy, ignorance, and hatred in my life and in the lives of those close to me, to remain educated about that which happens around me, to make informed decisions about how I live my life, to be involved in the world, to be passionate. These are tenets to which I am prepared to hold. The philosophy of my life to be that I will care about my life, my beliefs, my world, even when it hurts. To that, I will commit.