No Ordinary Moments!

Our ASB mission personified! ASB held our first official TEDxASB event on December 1st. We seek to create new opportunities to practice the mission of our school – which is to “inspire all of our students to continuous inquiry, empowering them with the skills, courage, optimism, and integrity to pursue their dreams and enhance the lives of others.” You may know, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design – three broad subject areas that are collectively shaping our future. The TED organization holds conferences around the world that are dedicated to providing a forum for the world’s great thinkers and doers to share their ideas. If you’ve ever watched a TED talk online or visited the website, you know that the subject of these talks is not limited to the fields of technology, entertainment and design. TED talks encompass and engage a broad range of ideas – and whether they pertain to innovations in medicine or new interpretations of mythology – they represent ideas worth spreading.

ASB’s aspiration is to further our growth as a learning community by carving out time to gain exposure to new ideas and to discuss and reflect upon these ideas together. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., a 19th century American physician and author, suggested that “A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension.” The culture of communal mind-bending was kicked off at ASB last week.

The theme of our very first TEDx event was “Dreams for the Lives of Others.” The guest speakers, Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee and Ms. Shaheen Mistry, are individuals whose dedication and drive to fulfill their own dreams for others has empowered thousands of individuals around the world in important ways.

Dr. Bill and Kathy McGee inspired students, faculty, and parents alike. Take a few minutes and see how they and Operation Smile are changing the lives of others:

Shaheen Mistry of Akanksha and Teach for India illuminated the power of one person, making a single act, creating the color and system of overall change.

Following the presentations, Shaheen, Bill, and Kathy spent time talking informally with students, and then left for missions in Mumbai and through India.

I’d like you to dwell on some advice presented by founder and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, Narayan Murthy, to a graduating class at New York University. He said “We have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time…it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come.

“Sometimes I want to ask a higher power why he/she allows poverty, suffering and injustice when he/she could do something about it.”

“Well why don’t you ask him/her?”

“Because I am afraid he/she would ask me the same question”