In Life, the biggest challenge is embracing challenge – there is
the eternal mind block that changes mostly are bad, insurmountable and are
impediments – though not all of them are so. It was a great
afternoon on 15th Feb 2012, when we had chance to hear about the
challenges and how they could be overcome in the face of adversity – and can
there be a better man who can inspire through his personal example of having
turned the biggest impediment to his advantage and turning out to be one at the
top of summit, literally.
Mark Joseph Inglis is not just another mountaineer; he is a researcher, winemaker and motivational
speaker. He holds a degree in Human Biochemistry from Lincoln University , New
Zealand , and has conducted research in
Leukemia. He is also an accomplished cyclistand won a silver medal in the 1 km
time trial event at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games ! In 1982, Mark Inglis and climbing partner Philip Doole were
stuck in an snow cave on Aoraki/Mount Cook for 13 days due to an intense
blizzard. The rescue of the two climbers was a major media event in New Zealand .
Mark in response to a query that at some point time people had lost hopes and
had even reported them not to be alive.
It was destined to be otherwise – they were found. Both men's legs became badly frost bitten
while awaiting rescue. Following Inglis' rescue, both his legs were amputated
below the knee.
He waxed eloquence quoting Albert Einstein stating ‘doing something
the same way every time and expecting a different result is – Insanity’. He drew parallels to his experience to the
pressures of Corporate World – the stress that people claim to face everyday in
Office and in their work. His words were
free flowing as it were the thoughts of the mind, which had conquered the World
by Self Belief, Resilience and learnt by balancing responsibilities and
risks.
It was nerve-chilling to hear him say ‘You never know what it is
like till it happens to you’ – only when we try to put ourselves in other’s
shoes, one can experience the pain and suffering lest it would be empty
prattle.
He advised people to look everything as opportunity and not as
adversity - Great words as after that
fateful incident, he lost both his legs still returned to Mt. Cook
in 2002 and reached the summit successfully on 7 January of that year, after a
previous attempt was thwarted by problems with his leg stumps. The summit
assault in January 2002 was documented by the film No Mean Feat: The Mark
Inglis Story. Not to be satisfied with
that achievement, he went on to challenge the challenge. On 15 May 2006, after forty days of climbing, Inglis became the
first ever double amputee to reach the summit of Mount
Everest . Inglis's Everest expedition was filmed for
the Discovery Channel series Everest: Beyond the Limit.
It was a day when the entire hall listened spell-bound to his
words, treating them as lessons of life.
Simple, easy to follow advices – yet carrying greater meaning were they
: Some of them were – Innovate, Learn to
do things by yourself; Communicate – connect with the Team; do things with
Focus; step into the unknown; sustain the leadership and be the change-maker. He is Great for he is not only an achiever
but chose to ‘share the lessons learnt’ with others. He concluded with
practical wisdom of saying that “only those who can risk going to our can
possibly find out how long they can go”. The biggest motivation after any fall,
is the ability to get up, look back to see how much you have progressed.
There could be very many occasions where we get to hear to learned
people or achievers – but this stage set by Royal Sundaram certainly provided a
very different opportunity. It was a day
where you felt great respect and reverence for the achievement of the Speaker
and it only progressed as you heard him speak..
Certainly a day to remember – and Mark Inglis sure is bound to
change the way people think… ! Kudos to
him and thanks to Royal Sundaram for presenting this opportunity to hear him
and enlighten ourselves.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar .
Great Man, greater spirits and strong mind = greatest achivements.. well and truly shown - Mark
ReplyDeleteGood to read Sir -Naren
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