Nothing is Impossible to a Willing Heart

I find this story very inspiring when I watched on TV last night. Two handicapped friends, one blind, one without arms, embarked on a tree planting mission and planted over 12,000 trees over the last 13 years. Their work help to improve air quality of a heavily polluted province and also aid in flood control. It was an uphill task not just because of their physical disability but also the land was not optimal for planting. They had limited funding and fellow villagers were cynical about their project. However, they perserved and gained more support as the area became greener. They have a dream to leave a stretch of green to the future generation.

This story inspires me in a few ways:

1. Realizing a dream (or a business) sometimes is not easy, the starting phase is usually the most difficult phase, support is lacking but self doubts in abundance. If you truly believe in your idea, you must persevere and make it work!

2. If two people with disabilities can work together and complement each other's strength to complete a difficult task, what is anything that the able-bodied youth today can't achieve? Can they work together to achieve a bigger goal? (Come on, young men & women, the world is your oyster!)

3. What more can we do for our society and our world? We always hear feedback about Singapore being an urban jungle, temperature are rising, too much vehicles on the road polluting the air....etc. However, what are the green initiatives that we can start or any existing campaigns we can support? We may not be able to solve the country's environmental problems or reverse global climate change but at least within our small circle, we can do something to make things better (even if it is only slightly better). You never know how your idea can inspire others and in today's world where everyone is connected via the Internet, one good idea can really change the world.

I leave you with a quote from this article:

"This empty riverbank was only dry sand and pebbles. It was deserted for many years. For normal people, it was impossible to plant trees there," Wenqi said. "But as the saying goes: Nothing is impossible to a willing heart."

http://www.firstpost.com/world/one-is-blind-and-one-doesnt-have-arms-but-together-they-planted-12000-trees-in-china-2222566.html