4 Distinguished Personalities who will inspire you to Never Give Up

You must have come across a few people who were dealt with extreme adversities and trauma and despite those challenges have went on to achieve greatness in life. It is their sheer courage and grit that enables such momentous greats to reach the pinnacle of human supremacy. 4 such distinguished personalities are revealed in this post whose lives are an epitome of self-belief and motivation. Their lives have had an inspiring effect on mine and I’m certain you too will share the same sentiment. So, Let’s get inspired.

Wilma Rudolph

In 1940 there was a little girl who was the 12th child in the family. She was born prematurely and had a severe bout of pneumonia which she could barely survive from. Doctors didn’t give her much time. Her parents had given up hope. But she survived and revived. She lost the strength in her legs in the process and could barely stand let alone walking or running as little kids would love to do. She was 4 and would watch the other kids play and run and laugh which the former two she could not. She had to wear braces around her legs to support her structure and had severe difficulty in walking. In school, one day, there was a running race and every child participated and she also wanted to, but could not. She wanted to run but just could not. However, just to keep her heart the teachers let her participate. So, she ran. She ran as fast as she could. But her run was no less than a limp while dragging the feet along. The race was over in less than 4 mins but this little girl continued. She braved all hindrances that offered terrible resistance and kept moving along, nobody could call it a run by any stretch of anybody’s imagination. She was just moving along. But she did not give up. Her teachers and all the participants encouraged her and after about 45 mins she completed the race. She was ecstatic. She didn’t win the race not even close. She had just completed the race probably in the longest time ever to complete a race. So, she set a record in the negative sense. But she did it. She completed the race.

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“When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome”

Wilma Rudolph

There was another race sometime later and this time this little weary girl with braces along her legs participated again. She walked this time not just moved along. And this time she finished the race earlier than the last race. She doesn’t stop here, although she was happy but she doesn’t stop. The next time the race is announced she is ready for it. She reaches the ground and takes off her braces, yes, just takes them off. She keeps it aside and takes her stride along the starting line. The whistle is blown and she dashes off. Nobody saw her run or walk before that without braces. She just races on the surface of the earth. This time she comes 5th. Everybody is blown away. What is going on? Her parents don’t believe it and the crowd doesn’t either. But the little girl believed it. She didn’t come first but she is improving herself by leaps and bounds. Now, fast forwarding, to 1960, the little girl is now all grown up and has won 3 Olympic gold medals on the planets most coveted athletic meet. That’s Wilma Rudolph. The greatest female athlete to have stepped foot on a race track. How could it be even possible? It’s impossible, right? Somebody with leg braces as support cannot possibly walk so how was it possible to win an Olympic gold medal and not just one but 3! She showed it’s possible, we have evidence in her gold medals. It happened because she used the gift which she was blessed with – not running – It’s the gift of self-belief. Which every one of us has, but we lose it most of the time.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Now, let’s move to 1963 where a young man who is on the podium waiting to deliver his speech. A man when he was just 12 had suffered from depression and even attempted suicide by jumping out of the second storey window but fortunately survived.  Now, He is on the verge of making history. But not without hurdles. He knows deep down in his heart that it’s the right thing to do. His entire pretext is based on the fact that “God had created every human equal”. This is the era of racism. A scar on the face of humanity. He is sitting on the chair behind waiting for his turn and he is scribbling notes on a piece of paper. Imagine he is still making changes to his speech and the last change he does with his pen on that piece of paper is “I have a dream“. The man is Martin Luther King Jr. Today, everybody knows the speech or at least has heard of it. He didn’t give the speech titled “I have a plan” he said “I have a dream” and that struck a chord somewhere so deep down that people connected to it immediately. He wasn’t speaking for the coloured people, the black people, his people, he was speaking about humans as a whole. The best part about the entire event of 1963 at Lincoln Memorial is that among the spectators standing there were 30% whites. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech led a movement which could not be stopped. It was no less than a miracle. Just like the David vs Goliath story. But it happened and it was possible because Martin Luther King Jr had a gift and that was a “Gift of Service”. He was so educated and intelligent that he could have led a comfortable life without drowning into the miseries of others. But he did something which was the right thing to do. He tapped into his potential of serving people, educating people and creating a mass movement which enabled them to live a life of dignity. He had a gift of service. And he achieved greatness. 

Wright Brothers

“We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity.”

Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright

1900s was an era, when the transportation industry still hadn’t seen a flight. It means, no airplanes were invented till then. But the hype around this form of transportation was so immense that many investors had put in their big money to have a vehicle created that could fly. The business potential was huge. So, in came Mr. Langley, he was chosen to carry out the experiments needed to get that flying vehicle in sky. Mr. Langley had all the resources. He could hire the best minds, the best equipment and the best of everything that money could buy so that humans could fly. He worked out every minute detail to get the process water tight and he was a shrewd business man. He knew what he was doing and how he was doing it. The two important things that define success. The media knew that it would be Mr. Langley who would give us the first airplane, so they covered him everywhere he went. They covered his all trials and experiments. They covered his engineers building the first artificial bird. But the first airplane was not built by Mr. Langley and his engineers. Despite all the money and all the resources, Mr. Langley failed. The eventual success came to two young men who went by the name of Wright brothers. They were normal young guys with a lot of courage and excitement around the flying business. They didn’t have much money and didn’t have any good resources as well, at least when compared to Mr. Langley’s. But they were the ones to build the first airplane. In fact the media didn’t even know that the flying machine was built till one week later. They were busy covering Mr. Langley. Wright brothers could do it because they had a gift – A gift of curiosity. Most inventors who have given us the best of the gadgets and equipment, in short – “convenience”, had a gift of curiosity. Be it Thomas Alva Edison, Nikola Tesla, Galileo and so many others. Mr. Langley was in it for the money but wright brothers were in it because they were curious to know how the thing could fly. Mr. Langley bought his best skilled and talented people with money. Wright brothers came in with their gift – “A gift of curiosity”.

Károly Takács

“Chase your dreams, no matter what life gives you. Never give up.”

Károly Takács

The final inspiring legend is again from the field of sport. In 1930s, a man named Károly Takács was sweeping all shooting events in his country, Hungary. He was the best shooter in the country. He won almost every medal in very shooting competition held in his country. Károly Takács was from the army. Everybody in the field of shooting knew that Károly Takács would win the Gold medal for shooting in the upcoming Olympic event. But in 1938 his life took a wrong turn and during the explosives testing in the army he lost his right hand. When he was testing the grenade, it blasted in his hand. Károly Takács the best shooter in the country, who was slated to win the Gold medal in the Olympics, had lost the hand which he used for shooting. Károly Takács went into wilderness for a year. Nobody saw him or met him. The next year the shooting competition in Hungary was to happen. The best shooters in the country gathered to compete. Károly Takács walked in. Everybody felt obliged to greet him. They thought it was amazing that even after the horrid incident Károly had come to encourage them. They offered thanks to him for coming and that his encouragement means so much to them. And Károly replied, “I’m not here to encourage you, I’m here to compete with you”. He still didn’t have his right hand so for the first time he was competing with his left hand. A hand with which he couldn’t even write. His weak hand. When he lost his right hand he didn’t think what he lost he thought of what he had. His left hand. He trained his left hand for a year in wilderness and here he was competing against the best. Everybody was competing with their best hand whereas Károly was competing with his only hand. The event started and ended and the man with the only hand had won. Károly Takács had won. But winning that event was not his goal. He had trained for the Olympics. He waited for the Olympics but it never happened because in 1940 and 1944 the WWII began and Olympics was cancelled. But Károly trained for the next 4 years and waited for the Olympics. His only target was winning the gold in Olympics. He was 38 at that time and nobody had won an event at that age. He was now competing against the younger shooters, more agile, more focussed and stronger. But that didn’t deter Károly, he waited for the next Olympics in 1948 and trained very hard for it and eventually his time had come. Károly won the gold medal for shooting at an Olympics event in 1948. Károly went to on win another gold in the next Olympics after 4 years again and his age was 42. He set a new record for the oldest participant to win a gold and also won back to back gold which was never done before at a shooting event. The only reason he achieved success is because he tapped into the potential of his gift. A gift of Perseverance. He never gave up. And that’s an amazing gift to have. Imagine, you are gifted with perseverance, you will keep trying until you find success. That is an awesome gift to be blessed with.

We can notice that these legends of their time, in their own marked fields have left a legacy. A miraculous legacy. A legacy that is so great that it is referred to as an inspiring tale of truth. A tale which reveals that Anything is Possible. 

Thanks for reading.