Well Preserved

I`ll never forget my Father telling me stories of his youth, especially the ones which involved horses.  My Father trained race horses (dropping out of school very young to do so) and every horse he broke won it`s first race.  He was a real cowboy – the `real` Marlboro Man (although he gave up smoking early in my life).

My Father told me one story many times – he saw the legendary E.P Taylor (a man who was instrumental in horse racing as well as the design of our city and many communities within it) at the track.  Pops stared at the man from afar, jaw agape until my Grandfather noticed.  My Grandfather was a tough man – even won a boxing match at Maple Leaf Gardens in his day before becoming a real estate agent, jail guard and many other things.  He spoke of things like pride as often as I breathe and his vision of heroes was a realistic one as he turned to my Father and declared, `Son, we all wipe our butts the same way – even him.`

It was a crude lesson but one that I learned often from the story: pick few heroes and pick them wisely.  This lesson was easily lived in my family – my Father became a Fire Fighter and my Mother was a Nurse.  I certainly had a lot of respect for many people doing amazing things but the term `hero`was saved for pretty rare company (namely an NHL Hockey player who grew up on my street and an extreme skier who I tried to emulate).  I didn`t have the chance to meet either one it may be just as well – it`s tough to live up to the imagination of a very active mind and such expectations of strangers are rarely fair.

I had the privilege of attending TEDx Toronto on Friday.  TEDx events are independantly organized TED events.  More than 700 of us were given tickets (there was a brief application process) for 1 and offered the opportunity to attend, share ideas and interact with each other.

I found out that a friend of mine, Chef Joshna Maharaj was speaking.  Joshna is going to change how our city, province and country view hospital food.

Rather than blithering on about it, I`d far rather share the intro video that highlights her vision:

It`s rare that I pick a hero, rarer that you meet them and rarest that they live up to it.  Joshna is an absolute hero of mine – I hope you`ll share her vision and inspiration.

Click the video to get to the TEDx Toronto YouTube chanel – the team behind the event did such an amazing job in organizing and curating – it was an inspiring day all around.