Gabriel Hummel

(Great photo despite its probable overused appearance on anything searched “inspirational” in google 😉 )

I am not the type of person who runs a website and runs around making re-postings of information that is already readily available to the masses, but in this case I am going to make an exception. Recently, on the social media networking site Mashable.com, I came across a posting that showcased 7 videos that all demonstrated to me how amazing awesome the human race is, and reaffirming the idea that people are not always being boring, inactive, and lame at life, but a lot of people really kick some serious ass and overcome some truly amazing obstacles in their own lives in order to hopefully set an example for the rest of us. Here are 7 Youtube videos that will hopefully serve as much inspiration to you as they did to me (hell maybe they will make this weekend one filled with productivity and totally amazing kickass adventures instead of a weekend filled with only college football, Doritos, and general lame ass behavior)

(from mashable.com)

1. William Kamkwamba: Harnessing the Wind

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William Kamkwamba was 14 when he built a windmill from scrap parts in order to provide enough electricity to power 4 lightbulbs and 2 radios in his home in his tiny village in Malawi. Kamkwamba’s story first came into the global spotlight when he spoke at the TED conference. He recently did a followup TED talk.

Kwakwamba’s inspiring story teaches us to dream big.

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2. Jason McElwain: Autistic Basketball Player

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Autistic basketball player Jason McElwain spent most of his high school career cheering his team on from the bench as team manager — until the final 4 minutes of his final game as a senior. McElwain didn’t waste any of his opportunity to get in the game, pouring in 7 shots and finishing the game as high scorer.

McElwain, who never complained about being left off the roster, shows us that attitude is everything.

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3. Cat Lainé: Empowering Local Communities

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Cat Lainé, who is the Deputy Director at the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, talked at the BIF-4 conference last year about how she and her colleagues empower communities in developing nations to change from within. Lainé believes in using human capital already within local economies to solve problems and develop solutions that work locally.

Lainé teaches that solutions are often right in front of your nose.

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4. Blake Mycoski: Creating Sustainable Charity

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Blake Mycoski didn’t just want to start a charity to put shoes on the feet of children who needed them — he wanted to do something more sustainable, something that didn’t rely on asking for donations. So Mycoski started TOMS Shoes, a for-profit company that gives one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair they sell.

Mycoski’s inspiring message is about the necessity of innovative thinking.

(This one was not letting me embed it, likely due to hamsters stuck in the internet, just click on the title to be forwarded to the video)

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5. Geoffrey Canada: Closing the Achievement Gap

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According to Geoffrey Canada the American school system is broken when it comes to teaching children in inner-city schools, and most people wouldn’t disagree with him. But Canada’s inspiring approach to fixing the problem is something that no one before him had tried — a complete overhaul of the social infrastructure. Canada created a “conveyor belt” in a Harlem neighborhood that touches the lives of children and their families from birth through college.

Canada shows us that sometimes you have to take a radical approach.

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6. Ben Underwood: Seeing While Blind

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Ben Underwood was blind, but while he was alive, he got around almost as well as people who can see, and even played video games with his friends. That’s because he had done something that’s very unusual: Ben Underwood taught himself how to echolocate. Underwood trained his ears to listen for the echoes that tongue-clicking sounds that he produced made as they bounced back off of objects. He then processed that information to figure out where physical objects lie around him.

Though Underwood sadly passed away earlier this year, his inspirational story proves that no obstacle is insurmountable.

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7. Lewis Gordon Pugh: Utilizing Extremes

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Lewis Gordon Pugh has swum in every ocean in the world, and was the first person to swim at the North Pole, where the waters are below zero degrees centigrade (which is the freezing point for fresh water). Pugh uses his extreme swimming feats to shed light on issues of worldwide importance such as global warming.

Pugh teaches us that you should strive to push yourself to your limits.