Aron Ralston came to Penn State on
April 5th as a part of the distinguished speaker series by SPA. I
got the tickets for it the day they came out and I was really excited to listen
to him talk. I had seen the movie 127 hours (amazing movie) already but I saw
it again just so that I had a better understanding of what he would be thinking
during that time.
I got to Eisenhower Auditorium half
an hour before time to get good seats. As soon as he came out it was clear that
the next hour or so is going to be absolutely amazing. He started very
philosophically and talked about how he conquered this feat and how everyone in
the room had the ability to do so.
He showed video clips from the
movie, showed some pictures from his trip, and would go on to talk about how he
made the decision to amputate his hand. Parts of the lecture were rather nauseating
with the details that he was providing but I had expected that going into the
lecture.
He talked about how he tried to
break his bone first on the 5th day and just using the multi-tool
that he had with him he amputated his hand. And not to lighten the amputation
story but during the speech it wasn’t the most nauseating story. He talked
about his eating and drinking supplies. He had four or five candy bars
(finished by the time he was stuck) and a couple burritos with about 350 ml of
water. His supplies were limited and he stayed there for 5 days, so he had to
drink his own urine to survive. But immediately following this story he said
that now every day before he goes to sleep he asks himself one question “Was
today a good day or a bad day?” and usually the answer is “Well, I didn’t drink
my own piss, so it has to be a good day.”
It's one thing to see a movie and
be inspired but it's a completely another thing to actually see the guy who the
movie is made about. His speech was really inspiring because he talked about
how everyone has ability to conquer any feat in their life. One thing that I
learnt from this was – you just gotta wait until you realize you can do
something.
This sounds really interesting; I wish I could have gone to the lecture but unfortunately I couldn’t. I never saw the movie but I have been yearning to see it because everyone else tells me it’s an amazing movie. It is people like that who inspire me the most in life because I could never even imagine myself in that situation.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great lecture. It is amazing to hear about the willpower some people have and what lengths people will go to when they are in dire straights. I really love the quote about the good or bad day. I think it is great how Aron Ralston was able to take an awful event and use it to inspire otthers.
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