If you have 20 minutes today – use them watching this

I like TED. You find educational, interesting and inspiring stuff there. A lot is timely, some things are there for the “wow” factor and others are just good to learn some tricks from great speakers in case you find yourself in the situation to have to speak in front of people yourself.

Once in a while, however, you come across a talk that just leaves you gaping and feeling a better person after watching it. Not that you did anything yourself, but it changes you thinking that you won’t have to change the world, but it would be a good idea for yourself to be better tomorrow than you were today.

Bunker Roy’s Learning from a barefoot movement is one of those videos.

I don’t want to give away too much, but let me tell you that if you listen and you see the consequences of what he says and the differences that he made with what he did (or actually inspired others to do) in these 20 minutes you’ll learn a lot of great things about:

• Empowering people
• Finding the right sources for information
• Gender differences and why women are wonderful
• Sustainable systems
• Human communication
• Group structures and the power of democracy
• How every learner is a teacher
• Finding solutions within
• Why poverty and illiteracy is not the end

Lean back, put on some earphones and go for it:

Isn’t it amazing just how we ended up being bored with literacy, having a free education system (no matter how misguided or broken) and creature comforts? Isn’t it amazing how we arrogantly claim that our scientific endeavours and money will find a way to sustain this planet? The solutions are out there – in the places and communities we think we need to help to get to our level, but in reality we can learn a lot from.