Review 5: "How the Worst Moments in Our Lives Make Us Who We Are" by Andrew Solomon

Like with the "Dangerous Memes" talk, I completely misinterpreted this talk simply because of the title. I came in to this talk believing that it would mainly cover the topics of loss and/or failure - stuff that could easily be defined as 'the worst moments in our lives'. However, this talk was not really about those issues in particular. For the most part, it covers how Solomon has dealt with prejudice regarding his homosexuality. Solomon explains how his homosexuality led to him getting bullied at school, going to a 'doctor' to attempt to 'fix' his sexuality, and how many countries punish people for being gay (an example he uses is how, in Nigeria, gay people can be stoned to death).
To me, the main thing I picked up from this talk is not that Solomon has overcome a lot of struggle, but that he has embraced what many others would not. Solomon brings up many other examples of how people have gained happiness in situations where most people would not feel happy, such as when a rape victim he met said that she felt pity for her assaulter because he didn't get to see his daughter (who was born because of the rape incident) and grandchildren (who are also essentially alive because of this incident) grow up. I'm really happy for Solomon; it seems he's created a life that he enjoys, because, although some people may disagree with his choices, Solomon doesn't really mind. He now has a family and children of his own, which is a really happy ending to this story of overcoming adversity.

Personally, I would recommend this talk to most people. I'm not personally gay, but I do know some people who are and the challenges that they face. It's really inspiring to see how Solomon, who was incredibly sensitive to these challenges as a child, has decided to follow the path he wants to follow rather than the one other people want him to follow. The one main problem I had with this TED talk was that it was really long - Solomon rambles on for about twenty minutes, so make sure you have some free time if you want to watch this in one sitting. I would consider this, along with Hans Rosling's talk about statistics, to be the most memorable talk I have seen so far.

Link to Solomon's Talk

(NOTE: the talk is the second one down on the list. Sorry that I couldn't get a direct link to the talk, but this one is good enough)