Today I’m going to talk about Tedx talks that I watched on YouTube, the title of this Tedx talks was “My philosophy for a happy life.” The speaker is Sam Berns who was diagnosed with Progeria when he was two, which is a rare, rapid aging disease. It affects only about 350 kids today, worldwide. And effects of Progeria include: tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth and heart disease.

Even though he had much more obstacles in his life than people like us, he did his best to do something that he could do and he’s passionate about. For example, playing snare drum. He wanted to play the snare drum in the Foxboro high school marching band so badly, but he couldn’t carry a regular sized snare drum logically because he weighed only about 50 pounds while each snare drum and harness weighed 40 pounds each. But he didn’t give up on his dream. His family and he worked with an engineer to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter and easier for him to carry. The new snare drum weighed only about 6 pounds so he could play it in the marching band.

This story is related to one of his philosophy for a happy life that is “Be OK with what you ultimately you can’t do, because there is so much you can do”

He could not play the regular sized snare drum nor run long distance because of his disease, however he managed to make a lighter snare drum to play, or he’s passionate about other things that he could do, like music, comic books. I think this philosophy not only applies to people who have diseases or disabilities but also people like us. I hate to say but we all have what we can’t do ultimately in our lives. People would say something like”we can accomplish everything if we keep working hard on that.” But I feel like there are many people that this message is not applied to. Some people are privileged enough to have opportunities to accomplish their dreams while others don’t. But after I watched these Tedx talks, I realized the fact that there is so much I can do even if I don’t have the ability to do something that I really want to do.

And also there’s another message that I want to share with you, that is “I try hard not to waste energy feeling bad for myself, because when I do, I get stuck in a paradox, where there’s no room for any happiness or any other emotion.”

Everyone gets stuck with negative thoughts about their lives at some point but I feel like this message or his other philosophy will give us hope.

Sadly he passed away on January 10, 2014. But his life filled with joy and dreams will never be forgotten.