Heroes
The Crucial Difference Between 'Free Speech' and 'Consequence-Free Speech'
Do you have a right to say terrible things? Of course. Just don't act all shocked when other people excercise their right to call you out for doing so.
01.11.13
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But what she also liked to focus on was her personal project: one that aimed to help mothers find ways to provide their kids with proper nutrition. One idea she worked on was to start a savings fund that would allow mothers to buy chickens, which in turn would continuously provide a source of much-needed protein through eggs.
She fell in love with the beauty of Rwanda from the warm interactions she shared with its people. Not least of which being Marcella, aka Mama Kuku, Larissa’s “counterpart,” a local community member who worked alongside her as a cultural liaison. But after welcoming Larissa into her home, teaching her to cook, celebrating multiple holidays…Mama Kuku truly became an extended family member.
“She’s literally my favorite person,” Larissa gushed.
And while Larissa had dedicated a lot of time to nutritional education, she learned a few invaluable lessons herself.
“The Peace Corps has taught me that I am a lot stronger than I think I am,” she shared.
Larissa also added how traveling helped her, and can help anyone, get to know a different part of themselves and expand their worldview. All pretty handy skills, if you ask us.
“If you're thinking about [joining the Peace Corps] you should do it. Challenge yourself. It'll be worth it.”
Does reading this generate a little buzz of excitement, or pique your curiosity? The Peace Corps has immersive and fulfilling opportunities in over 60 countries. Learn more about becoming a Volunteer here.These are the rare faces of people who have lived through two world wars, a cavalcade of regimes, and the rush of advancements in modern life. These photos, and the stories of the lives lived by the people in them, show not only the beauty of aging, but how even as we age, we still remain essentially ourselves.
1. Prokop Vejdělek, at age 22 and 101
All photos by Jan Langer.
Vejdělek is a former metallurgical engineer who will never forget the taste of warm fresh goat's milk.
2. Bedřiška Köhlerová, at age 26 and 103
Originally born in Merano, Italy, Köhlerová wishes to visit Italy one more time.
3. Ludvík Chybík, at age 20 and 102
Chybík is a former postal carrier and says he will never forget the route he worked every day.
4. Vincenc Jetelina, at age 30 and 105
Jetelina spent eight years in prison after World War II. Now, he just wants to live the rest of his life in peace.
5. Marie Fejfarová, at age 101
Fejfarová burned all her material memories, including old photographs, when she decided to move to a long-term care facility. She lived a dramatic life, hiding from the Nazis and then the Russians, but eventually she was able to travel the world with her husband. Her experiences show there's no such thing as too late in life to start a new chapter.
6. Antonín Kovář, at age 25 and 102
Kovář is a former musician whose daughter comes to visit him every day. He wishes to play the clarinet once more.
7. Anna Vašinová, at age 22 and 102
Vašinová will always remember the day her husband was taken away by the Nazis. She wishes to be reunited with him after death.
8. Stanislav Spáčil, at age 17 and 102
Spáčil was an electrical engineer throughout his life and thinks that it's too early in his life to think about the past.
9. Anna Pochobradská, at age 30 and 100
Pochobradská was a farmer. She now lives a quiet life and is thankful that her daughter visits her every weekend.
10. Antonín Baldrman, at age 17 and 101
Baldrman was a clerk early in life and keeps up with current events by reading the newspaper.
11. Marie Burešová, at age 23 and 101
Burešová loves talking to her family and wishes to have them all together again.
12. Vlasta Čížková, at age 23 and 101
Čížková cooked in the dining room at the airport in the small village of Vodochody. She'll never forget reciting her own poetry at wedding ceremonies.
13. Ludmila Vysloužilová, at age 23 and 101
Vysloužilová stays active every day by chopping wood, shoveling snow, and doing work around her house.
The photographer Langer was initially inspired to document the lives of elderly people because of what he saw as the media's lack of coverage of them. He decided to focus on people over the age of 100 — a very rare demographic indeed. The 2010 U.S. Census reported only 53,364 centenarians, which is only 0.19% of the population of people 70 years or older.
“One should live every single moment according to their best knowledge and conscience because one day we will see clearly what has a real value," Langer says of what he learned from his subjects while photographing them.
The series was originally part of a story that Langer did for the Czech news outlet aktuálně.cz. You can see more photos from the portrait sessions by following the link.
This article originally appeared on 12.08.17.
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All GIFs and images via Exposure Labs.
They were also there to shoot scenes for a documentary. And while they were hoping to capture some cool moments on camera, no one expected a huge chunk of a glacier to snap clean off and slide into the ocean right in front of their eyes.
Massive swells created by large chunks of glacier falling away.
It was the largest such event ever filmed.
For nearly an hour and 15 minutes, Balog and his crew stood by and watched as a piece of ice the size of lower Manhattan — but with ice-equivalent buildings that were two to three times taller than that — simply melted away.
A representation demonstrating the massive size of ice that broke off into the sea.
As far as anyone knows, this was an unprecedented geological catastrophe and they caught the entire thing on tape. It won't be the last time something like this happens either.
But once upon a time, Balog was openly skeptical about that "global warming" thing.
Balog had a reputation since the early 1980s as a conservationist and environmental photographer. And for nearly 20 years, he'd scoffed at the climate change heralds shouting, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
"I didn't think that humans were capable of changing the basic physics and chemistry of this entire, huge planet. It didn't seem probable, it didn't seem possible," he explained in the 2012 documentary film "Chasing Ice."
There was too much margin of error in the computer simulations, too many other pressing problems to address about our beautiful planet. As far as he was concerned, these melodramatic doomsayers were distracting from the real issues.
That was then.
The glacier ice continues to erode away.
In fact, it wasn't until 2005 that Balog became a believer.
He was sent on a photo expedition of the Arctic by National Geographic, and that first northern trip was more than enough to see the damage for himself.
"It was about actual tangible physical evidence that was preserved in the ice cores of Greenland and Antarctica," he said in a 2012 interview with ThinkProgress. "That was really the smoking gun showing how far outside normal, natural variation the world has become. And that's when I started to really get the message that this was something consequential and serious and needed to be dealt with."
Some of that evidence may have been the fact that more Arctic landmass has melted away in the last 20 years than the previous 10,000 years.
Watch the video of the event of the glacier calving below:
This article originally appeared on 11.04.15
via Liza Summer/Pexels and ANIRUDH/Unsplash
A concerned woman gets a DNA test.
So, she secretly had the adopted son's DNA tested.
When the results came back, the woman found out that her children were half brothers. Her husband had cheated on her with the neighbor who passed away. In a strange set of circumstances, the man adopted his son. After learning the truth about her son and husband, the wife was beside herself.
“I don't know how I should act. I am so angry and feel so humiliated, but I love the three of them so much. I feel like I am just a tool and that my dignity was stepped upon,” she wrote on the forum.
To make things worse, she still loves her husband. She said that he was “never abusive” and was a “good husband” and a “good father.”
“It feels like I was not a mother but an idiot who was used like a babysitter for his child,” the woman wrote. “How am I supposed to react? Should I tell them the truth and try to cancel the adoption? Should I divorce him? Am I right to feel like it, or am I a monster to see this child as the source of my humiliation?”
A depressed woman.
The post received 110 comments, and the most popular urged her to ask herself the big questions. Do you want to raise both boys? Do you want to stay married? Do you feel like he will slight you again in some way?
I think one question you need to consider is, Do you want to raise both boys? Setting aside whether or not your husband is involved, understand that the child is blameless and isn't responsible for his parentage. Deciding what you want to do regarding the child is important. Also note that it isn't wrong to decide that you can't handle taking care of this child. Only you know if you have the capacity to raise the child, knowing where he comes from. If you decide that you can't, it is better to not try, and end up conveying all the upset you are feeling to him.
The other question is, Do you want to stay married? There can be various reasons for and against divorce. Only you can decide which ones matter most to you.
A related question is, Do you feel he will slight you again in some way? You talk about your dignity being stepped on. Is he often acting that way in many things? Was this a one-time thing? Do you think he is likely to do it again? Knowing this will help you answer the prior question.
Trying to break down all the things you are struggling with into separate ideas may help you get some control over it.
The woman’s final words on her situation were that she couldn’t resolve to hate her husband or the adopted child and that her husband’s infidelity was the only thing that made her feel hesitant about him. Further, she is legally bound to the adopted child and couldn’t leave him regardless. But sadly, even though it appears she will stay in the situation, she feels like she has no choice. “I feel trapped,” she wrote.
Upworthy has reached out to the woman for an update on her story. We will update this story if she responds.