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Gaurav Gujral

Student - B.E - Computer Engineering, University of Auckland

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What is the most inspiring speech you have heard?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibmcsEGLKo

This speech was made by Charlie Chaplin in his movie 'The Great Dictator' and it has always inspired me since I first saw it. So my question to you all is this: What speech have you heard or a talk you have seen on TED that inspires you to be a good person or gives you a brighter outlook on life?

PS: A link to the speech/talk would be appreciated if possible.

Topics: Love for Humanity
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Closing Statement from Gaurav Gujral

Thanks everyone for the great links, its been a blast looking at all these speeches and getting the chance to share some of the talks that inspire me has been great.

So once again, thanks :)

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    Gaurav Gujral

    • +3
    Oct 13 2011: Recently saw this movie called Invictus (presumably named after the poem below by William Ernest Henley)

    Out of the night that covers me,
    Black as the pit from pole to pole,
    I thank whatever gods may be
    For my unconquerable soul.

    In the fell clutch of circumstance
    I have not winced nor cried aloud.
    Under the bludgeonings of chance
    My head is bloody, but unbowed.

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears
    Looms but the Horror of the shade,
    And yet the menace of the years
    Finds and shall find me unafraid.

    It matters not how strait the gate,
    How charged with punishments the scroll,
    I am the master of my fate:
    I am the captain of my soul.

    In the movie Morgan Freeman plays as Nelson Mandela. During his Incarceration he was so inspired by this poem that he wrote it on a piece of paper and kept it n his prison cell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FozhZHuAcCs is the scene from the movie where it is recited.
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      Andrea Morisette Grazzini 30+

      • +4
      Oct 14 2011: Guarav,

      An excellent choice!

      These words speak to Mandela's (and, of course, Henley's) clarity of understanding the shared experiences of personal and universal. Specifically: the dynamics all can -- and often do -- encounter at the ends of a continuum of human vulnerability and intrinsic human dignity and power. As crystallized in this sentence:

      "Under the bludgeonings of chance
      My head is bloody, but unbowed."

      Note how it anchors and punctuates the first half of the poem while it sets the stage for second.

      And, as it does invites the readers' to see something of themselves in the words. It goes on to build and catalyze the reader's awareness and acceptance of ones capacities to lead themselves, even when circumstance, chaos and stifling conditions seem to conspire against one's attainment of self- and soul strength.

      Andrea
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      Juliette Zahn 50+

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      Oct 14 2011: This poem by William Ernest Henley is exceptional !!Thank you for the written form. Invictus is a great movie !!
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      Debra Smith 200+

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      Oct 16 2011: I loved it too, Gaurav. I loved the whole message of that movie. Thanks for reminding me!

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