Article Assignment #5

Ben Saunders: Youngest person to ski to the North Pole (Ted Talk)

Ben Saunders

Rating: ****

I have always wondered about the North Pole. How cold is it? What is up there? Do polar bears walk around like they are the kings of the world? Then I saw this captivating video…

Ben Saunders is a 23 year old man born in England. He had high aspirations in life. One of those grand aspirations was to ski across the North Pole carrying 400lbs of equipment behind him, all by himself. Ben Saunders is one of only 4 people in all of history to complete these challenge all by himself and doing so at the age of 23 gives him the credit of being the youngest ever to accomplish this challenge. Ben Saunders wanted to do this challenge because three years prior to his success, he attempted to ski across the North Pole with his friend but failed to ski fast enough as his journey ended 200 miles away from the pole. But Ben never gave up. Three years later he had much more planning go into it, and more preparation which led to crossing the pole but not all the way to Canada quite yet. What excites Ben is testing human potential limits. He is so conflicted that the average human only begins to scrape there potential and only use about 3-5% of their full potential. Ben loves to prove people wrong and hoping to be an inspiration that anything is possible.

This Ted Talk is the most inspirational video I have ever watched in my entire life. His journey is described to be 10x harder than climbing Everest and he is the youngest of 4 people to every complete this journey showing that anything is possible no matter who you are. This article has me thinking about my career in sports in the sense of never giving up. If I have the drive and the commitment to continue on when someone tells me I can’t, I will have a successful career and the statistics are behind those facts as well. I learnt that at the North Pole, there is nothing there. Just more snow and ice hahaha. In all seriousness I learnt that pressured ice is caused by the currents and movements right underneath the ice and snow cause that snow and ice to form very bumpy terrain. This video will change my mindset on life entirely. If the right effort is applied and you believe you can do it, nothing can stop you no matter who they are or what they do. Humans are capable of amazing things and there potential should never be questioned or hurt by anyone.

In conclusion, you should never let anyone tell you, you are not capable of doing something you love because in the end, if you believe you can, that is the only thing that matters in the end. Then you will be the one laughing in there face.

Josh Thomas

Saunders, Ben. "Ben Saunders: Youngest Person to Ski to the North Pole." Ted Talk. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2014. <http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/BenSaunders_2005_480.mp4>.