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Living.

This might be the most extraordinary thing I've ever been able to share on this blog that I have a direct tie to.  The embedded video below is one of the many amazing TED talks, where the most exceptional individuals from all walks of life are invited to come and speak about their experience as doctors or rocket scientists or any number of other elite titles. 

The woman in this TED talk is one I can say is one of my most cherished acquaintances.  Her name is Charity, she's an opera singer with pulminary hypertension, and her grandfather was the late Tom Lantos, my holocaust-surviving chairman at the Committee on Foreign Affairs.  He was a profound influence on me, as was every member of his family that I was able to meet.  Charity, her brother Corban, and a few others of his grandchildren would occassionally be in the office, lighting the room with their friendliness, charisma and zeal, even in the wake of Tom's death, and mere weeks later, their father's death in an untimely car accident.

To know now that their family was so close to losing Charity that year, too, makes it all the more monumental to hear her sing and perform now.  Charity's message of what it means to live for something is so powerful to me, and I hope everyone who reads this blog will take 20 minutes of their day to watch this.  I promise that the rest of your day (or however much of your life you let it) will be better for it. 

Comments

Unknown said…
pretty powerful. i love TED talks. this one is inspiring and how cool is that you know her!

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