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Another TED speaker (Glenna is actually an acquaintance of mine, and she is awesome):
“…But no matter who’s up today or over the next three, I defy any TED talk be as memorable, powerful or thought-provoking than Glenna Fraumeni’s six-minute profound lesson on perspective delivered yesterday at TEDyou.
Glenna is a 24-year-old med student from Canada who last year was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer last Christmas and given three years to live. Silent night, indeed.
But rather than wallow in the injustice or create a frivolous “bucket list” of things to do and places to see before dying (“Why do I need a picture of me waving in front of the pyramids?” she asked), Glenna has decided to simply–as they said in the ’60s–keep on keeping on. She goes to school to pursue her degree, continues to help others in her job, and tries to live each day with a sense of normalcy, accepting the inevitable but bravely denying its power to throw her off her path.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as she stumbled with her opening a couple of times, calmly asked to start over, and then proceeded to teach everyone a much-needed lesson we all soon forget too damn often.
Her simple closing words still echo endlessly:
“I know I probably won’t be here Christmas 2011.
But, more importantly, where will YOU be?”
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