What's your favorite inspirational story?
February 11, 2011 8:15 PM Subscribe
What's your favorite inspirational story?
I would like to tell a six minute inspirational story at my Toastmasters
Club next week. Something with unexpected twists. It can be fictional or real-life.
I would like to tell a six minute inspirational story at my Toastmasters
Club next week. Something with unexpected twists. It can be fictional or real-life.
You might check out the stories at Inspiration Peak for more ideas. They have a variation of an old favorite of mine. It's admittedly kind of glurge-y and saccharine, but even so...
After a storm, a man was walking down the beach. In the distance he saw a little girl and her mother moving back and forth furiously from the beach to the froth of the angry ocean. As he drew closer, he saw that hundreds of starfish had washed up on the beach. The girl and her mother would grab a starfish and run them to the water in an effort to get the starfish off of the beach.
“Little girl,” he said, “you know you can’t save all these starfish.”
“I know,” the little girl replied, “but I can save this one.”
She held up the starfish in her hand for the briefest moment, then hurried to the ocean.
“And I can save this one,” she continued, running back up the beach and picking up another starfish.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:05 PM on February 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
After a storm, a man was walking down the beach. In the distance he saw a little girl and her mother moving back and forth furiously from the beach to the froth of the angry ocean. As he drew closer, he saw that hundreds of starfish had washed up on the beach. The girl and her mother would grab a starfish and run them to the water in an effort to get the starfish off of the beach.
“Little girl,” he said, “you know you can’t save all these starfish.”
“I know,” the little girl replied, “but I can save this one.”
She held up the starfish in her hand for the briefest moment, then hurried to the ocean.
“And I can save this one,” she continued, running back up the beach and picking up another starfish.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:05 PM on February 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
Touching the Void.
Two guys attempt to climb one of the highest mountains in South America. One climber breaks his leg, ends up in a crevasse.
His partner thinks he's dead, and returns to camp.
The guy with the broken leg is not dead. He manages to crawl out of the crevasse through an ice tube. He now has to somehow get all the way down the glacier to the camp before his teammates leave, having given them up for dead.
He can't walk. He can only pull himself along. It's probably about 10 kilometers.
He eventually makes it back.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:13 PM on February 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
Two guys attempt to climb one of the highest mountains in South America. One climber breaks his leg, ends up in a crevasse.
His partner thinks he's dead, and returns to camp.
The guy with the broken leg is not dead. He manages to crawl out of the crevasse through an ice tube. He now has to somehow get all the way down the glacier to the camp before his teammates leave, having given them up for dead.
He can't walk. He can only pull himself along. It's probably about 10 kilometers.
He eventually makes it back.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:13 PM on February 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
The problem that I've always had with the Mexican fisherman story is that it can be told from a completely different angle. The current perspective is that financial reward and security are the overriding goals.
I would say different things to the fisherman:
"You can create jobs for people from your village and many other villages, bettering the lives of everyone."
"You can invest in new technology that will reduce the impacts of your fishing activities on the ocean and contribute to longer survivability for the ecosystem"
"If there is a disaster and the fishing stock declines, you will have diversified your interests be able to continue both of the above activities."
The parable is sweet in itself and I do not have a problem with that however the perspective from which it's told is a bit individualistic. Reminds of off-grid farmers in Northern California that want the government to stay away from them in every conceivable way and just want to exist on a sustenance level, charting their own course. However, they sure do enjoy access to the internet to improve yields (defence department / corporate creation) and modern medical treatment when someone develops cancer (government university / corporate creation).
I realise the point of the story is that "wanting more" leads to years spent doing things that one does not want to do. However, "wanting more" also has led to a world that most of us enjoy over the previous world of less.
posted by nickrussell at 7:09 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I would say different things to the fisherman:
"You can create jobs for people from your village and many other villages, bettering the lives of everyone."
"You can invest in new technology that will reduce the impacts of your fishing activities on the ocean and contribute to longer survivability for the ecosystem"
"If there is a disaster and the fishing stock declines, you will have diversified your interests be able to continue both of the above activities."
The parable is sweet in itself and I do not have a problem with that however the perspective from which it's told is a bit individualistic. Reminds of off-grid farmers in Northern California that want the government to stay away from them in every conceivable way and just want to exist on a sustenance level, charting their own course. However, they sure do enjoy access to the internet to improve yields (defence department / corporate creation) and modern medical treatment when someone develops cancer (government university / corporate creation).
I realise the point of the story is that "wanting more" leads to years spent doing things that one does not want to do. However, "wanting more" also has led to a world that most of us enjoy over the previous world of less.
posted by nickrussell at 7:09 AM on February 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Perhaps a bit saccharine, but it touched a chord with me when I heard it at a middle school graduation.
A man walking through the park observes a small boy playing all alone, tossing a baseball into the air and then swinging a bat in the obvious hope of hitting one over the horizon. Just before the toss he announces, "I am the best baseball player in this whole town," then swings and misses. The ball drops to the ground with a sad thud.
But the little boy is undaunted. He picks up the ball again and says, "I am the best ball player in the state!" (you as the speaker recount as many variations on his statement as you want , each boast slightly more extravagant - as many swings and misses as you think appropriate.) He misses again.
"Another strike!" he whoops. "I am the best pitcher EVER ! ! "
posted by wjm at 1:20 PM on February 12, 2011
A man walking through the park observes a small boy playing all alone, tossing a baseball into the air and then swinging a bat in the obvious hope of hitting one over the horizon. Just before the toss he announces, "I am the best baseball player in this whole town," then swings and misses. The ball drops to the ground with a sad thud.
But the little boy is undaunted. He picks up the ball again and says, "I am the best ball player in the state!" (you as the speaker recount as many variations on his statement as you want , each boast slightly more extravagant - as many swings and misses as you think appropriate.) He misses again.
"Another strike!" he whoops. "I am the best pitcher EVER ! ! "
posted by wjm at 1:20 PM on February 12, 2011
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posted by cardioid at 8:30 PM on February 11, 2011