Admirable People

[Smartmarzipan]

This thread is about admirable people and what they have done for others and/or for the world. DON'T be a wet blanket and just start criticizing people for their short-comings. DO talk about the good things people have done.

Name your heroes, AF denizens, and let us become inspired!

Irena Sendler

...was a Polish Roman Catholic nurse/social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II, and as head of children's section of ?egota, an underground resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw. Assisted by some two dozen other ?egota members, Sendler smuggled some 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then provided them with false identity documents and with housing outside the Ghetto, saving those children during the Holocaust.The Nazis eventually discovered her activities, tortured her, and sentenced her to death, but she managed to evade execution and survive the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler

She and her friends smuggled the children out in boxes, suitcases, sacks and coffins, sedating babies to quiet their cries. Some were spirited away through a network of basements and secret passages. Operations were timed to the second. One of Sendler's children told of waiting by a gate in darkness as a German soldier patrolled nearby. When the soldier passed, the boy counted to 30, then made a mad dash to the middle of the street, where a manhole cover opened and he was taken down into the sewers and eventually to safety.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/send ... 5ml08kG.99


Audrey Hepburn

Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. Then-United States president George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf. Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being naturally bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Those close to her whom say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life.

In October 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes. In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it "apocalyptic", she said, "I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn't prepared for this." "The earth is red – an extraordinary sight – that deep terracotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around these places like an ocean bed and I was told these were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, wherever there is a road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp – there are graves everywhere.

Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. "Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Hep ... ian_career


Carlos Arredondo (in the cowboy hat)

Alexander Brian Arredondo (born Carlos Luis de Los Ángeles Arredondo Piedra August 25, 1960) is a Costa Rican-American peace activist and an American Red Cross volunteer. He became an anti war activist after his 20-year-old eldest son Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo died in action during Iraq War in 2004.

Arredondo and his wife Mélida became activists for peace and have had speaking engagements around the country speaking about his personal tragedy and to parents about the methods recruiters use to enlist youth.[citation needed] He especially works to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community.

The Arredondos requested during Mitt Romney's governorship to have flags placed at half-staff upon the death of a Massachusetts native related to his or her war injuries in 2005, a wish that Alex had when he noticed after his first deployment how the public was not noticing the war deaths. They have also lobbied for families' decisions to allow press to cover the arrival of their troops' remains from the combat zone, a statute from George Bush, Sr.'s administration.
.............

During a daytime peaceful anti-war protest on September 15, 2007, Arredondo was physically assaulted by a mob of counter protesters. The assailants followed Arredondo as he pulled his son's memorial, purposely yelling epiphets and eventually seizing a photo of Alex from the casket. An attempt to retrieve his dead son's photo provoked the men to kick Arredondo in the head, legs, stomach and back. Police defused the situation before major damage could be inflicted.

On December 19, 2011, Arredondo's surviving son, Brian, committed suicide, after battling depression and drug addiction ever since his brother's death. He was 24 years old at the time. Since Brian's death, the Arredondos have dedicated themselves to attending suicide groups sessions and conferences, especially related to military-related suicides. Both have worked with elected officials in the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts to change systems regarding suicide policy.

On April 15, 2013 Arredondo attended the 2013 Boston Marathon. At around 2:50 p.m. EDT (18:50 UTC), two bombs were detonated during the race in Copley Square, just before the finish line. Arredondo immediately sprinted into action and he can be seen in a series of photos and videos of the aftermath pulling debris and fencing away from the bloody victims, clearing the way for emergency personnel to tend to their wounds. He saw Jeff Bauman, missing both of his legs and losing blood rapidly, he knew Jeff needed help the most. Arredondo lifted Bauman and put him into a wheelchair, and when the fabric used as a tourniquet kept getting caught in its wheels he held it (this was initially mistaken for Arredondo pinching Bauman's femoral artery shut).

In a now iconic photograph Carlos Arredondo with his cowboy hat is helping rush Jeff Bauman, to an ambulance. He remains in touch with the victims of the bombings, including Jeff Bauman. Arredondo was a spectator of the race, there to support and he cheer on members of the National Guard and a suicide prevention group that were running in honor of his two deceased sons.

[Shol'va]

I'm parent to my first child who is little over a year. Seeing those pics of the Warsaw kids tears me up inside and seriously makes me want to cry.

[mykcob4]

This thread is about admirable people and what they have done for others and/or for the world. DON'T be a wet blanket and just start criticizing people for their short-comings. DO talk about the good things people have done.

Name your heroes, AF denizens, and let us become inspired!

Irena Sendler
[ Image ]

...was a Polish Roman Catholic nurse/social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II, and as head of children's section of ?egota, an underground resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw. Assisted by some two dozen other ?egota members, Sendler smuggled some 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then provided them with false identity documents and with housing outside the Ghetto, saving those children during the Holocaust.The Nazis eventually discovered her activities, tortured her, and sentenced her to death, but she managed to evade execution and survive the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler

She and her friends smuggled the children out in boxes, suitcases, sacks and coffins, sedating babies to quiet their cries. Some were spirited away through a network of basements and secret passages. Operations were timed to the second. One of Sendler's children told of waiting by a gate in darkness as a German soldier patrolled nearby. When the soldier passed, the boy counted to 30, then made a mad dash to the middle of the street, where a manhole cover opened and he was taken down into the sewers and eventually to safety.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/send ... 5ml08kG.99


Audrey Hepburn
[ Image ]

Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. Then-United States president George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf. Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being naturally bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Those close to her whom say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life.

In October 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes. In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it "apocalyptic", she said, "I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn't prepared for this." "The earth is red – an extraordinary sight – that deep terracotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around these places like an ocean bed and I was told these were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, wherever there is a road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp – there are graves everywhere.

Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. "Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Hep ... ian_career


Carlos Arredondo (in the cowboy hat)
[ Image ]

Alexander Brian Arredondo (born Carlos Luis de Los Ángeles Arredondo Piedra August 25, 1960) is a Costa Rican-American peace activist and an American Red Cross volunteer. He became an anti war activist after his 20-year-old eldest son Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo died in action during Iraq War in 2004.

Arredondo and his wife Mélida became activists for peace and have had speaking engagements around the country speaking about his personal tragedy and to parents about the methods recruiters use to enlist youth.[citation needed] He especially works to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community.

The Arredondos requested during Mitt Romney's governorship to have flags placed at half-staff upon the death of a Massachusetts native related to his or her war injuries in 2005, a wish that Alex had when he noticed after his first deployment how the public was not noticing the war deaths. They have also lobbied for families' decisions to allow press to cover the arrival of their troops' remains from the combat zone, a statute from George Bush, Sr.'s administration.
.............

During a daytime peaceful anti-war protest on September 15, 2007, Arredondo was physically assaulted by a mob of counter protesters. The assailants followed Arredondo as he pulled his son's memorial, purposely yelling epiphets and eventually seizing a photo of Alex from the casket. An attempt to retrieve his dead son's photo provoked the men to kick Arredondo in the head, legs, stomach and back. Police defused the situation before major damage could be inflicted.

On December 19, 2011, Arredondo's surviving son, Brian, committed suicide, after battling depression and drug addiction ever since his brother's death. He was 24 years old at the time. Since Brian's death, the Arredondos have dedicated themselves to attending suicide groups sessions and conferences, especially related to military-related suicides. Both have worked with elected officials in the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts to change systems regarding suicide policy.

On April 15, 2013 Arredondo attended the 2013 Boston Marathon. At around 2:50 p.m. EDT (18:50 UTC), two bombs were detonated during the race in Copley Square, just before the finish line. Arredondo immediately sprinted into action and he can be seen in a series of photos and videos of the aftermath pulling debris and fencing away from the bloody victims, clearing the way for emergency personnel to tend to their wounds. He saw Jeff Bauman, missing both of his legs and losing blood rapidly, he knew Jeff needed help the most. Arredondo lifted Bauman and put him into a wheelchair, and when the fabric used as a tourniquet kept getting caught in its wheels he held it (this was initially mistaken for Arredondo pinching Bauman's femoral artery shut).

In a now iconic photograph Carlos Arredondo with his cowboy hat is helping rush Jeff Bauman, to an ambulance. He remains in touch with the victims of the bombings, including Jeff Bauman. Arredondo was a spectator of the race, there to support and he cheer on members of the National Guard and a suicide prevention group that were running in honor of his two deceased sons.

I could only add to your list but your list is good enough so I won't.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Winston Churchill inspired a defeated nation to stand fast against a brutal ideology of extermination, and that stand allowed the two largest powers to combine their resources and crush  Naziism.  Churchill's task was long, arduous, and not appreciated until long after he was thrown out of office immediately after the NaZi surrender. He gave voice to the stout determination of his nation to not succumb to tyranny, and if you take the time to read his words today, they still resonate, because he was a man who spoke the truth.

[Smartmarzipan]

This thread is about admirable people and what they have done for others and/or for the world. DON'T be a wet blanket and just start criticizing people for their short-comings. DO talk about the good things people have done.

Name your heroes, AF denizens, and let us become inspired!

Irena Sendler
[ Image ]

...was a Polish Roman Catholic nurse/social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II, and as head of children's section of ?egota, an underground resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw. Assisted by some two dozen other ?egota members, Sendler smuggled some 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then provided them with false identity documents and with housing outside the Ghetto, saving those children during the Holocaust.The Nazis eventually discovered her activities, tortured her, and sentenced her to death, but she managed to evade execution and survive the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler

She and her friends smuggled the children out in boxes, suitcases, sacks and coffins, sedating babies to quiet their cries. Some were spirited away through a network of basements and secret passages. Operations were timed to the second. One of Sendler's children told of waiting by a gate in darkness as a German soldier patrolled nearby. When the soldier passed, the boy counted to 30, then made a mad dash to the middle of the street, where a manhole cover opened and he was taken down into the sewers and eventually to safety.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/send ... 5ml08kG.99


Audrey Hepburn
[ Image ]

Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. Then-United States president George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf. Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being naturally bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Those close to her whom say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life.

In October 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes. In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it "apocalyptic", she said, "I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn't prepared for this." "The earth is red – an extraordinary sight – that deep terracotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around these places like an ocean bed and I was told these were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, wherever there is a road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp – there are graves everywhere.

Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. "Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Hep ... ian_career


Carlos Arredondo (in the cowboy hat)
[ Image ]

Alexander Brian Arredondo (born Carlos Luis de Los Ángeles Arredondo Piedra August 25, 1960) is a Costa Rican-American peace activist and an American Red Cross volunteer. He became an anti war activist after his 20-year-old eldest son Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo died in action during Iraq War in 2004.

Arredondo and his wife Mélida became activists for peace and have had speaking engagements around the country speaking about his personal tragedy and to parents about the methods recruiters use to enlist youth.[citation needed] He especially works to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community.

The Arredondos requested during Mitt Romney's governorship to have flags placed at half-staff upon the death of a Massachusetts native related to his or her war injuries in 2005, a wish that Alex had when he noticed after his first deployment how the public was not noticing the war deaths. They have also lobbied for families' decisions to allow press to cover the arrival of their troops' remains from the combat zone, a statute from George Bush, Sr.'s administration.
.............

During a daytime peaceful anti-war protest on September 15, 2007, Arredondo was physically assaulted by a mob of counter protesters. The assailants followed Arredondo as he pulled his son's memorial, purposely yelling epiphets and eventually seizing a photo of Alex from the casket. An attempt to retrieve his dead son's photo provoked the men to kick Arredondo in the head, legs, stomach and back. Police defused the situation before major damage could be inflicted.

On December 19, 2011, Arredondo's surviving son, Brian, committed suicide, after battling depression and drug addiction ever since his brother's death. He was 24 years old at the time. Since Brian's death, the Arredondos have dedicated themselves to attending suicide groups sessions and conferences, especially related to military-related suicides. Both have worked with elected officials in the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts to change systems regarding suicide policy.

On April 15, 2013 Arredondo attended the 2013 Boston Marathon. At around 2:50 p.m. EDT (18:50 UTC), two bombs were detonated during the race in Copley Square, just before the finish line. Arredondo immediately sprinted into action and he can be seen in a series of photos and videos of the aftermath pulling debris and fencing away from the bloody victims, clearing the way for emergency personnel to tend to their wounds. He saw Jeff Bauman, missing both of his legs and losing blood rapidly, he knew Jeff needed help the most. Arredondo lifted Bauman and put him into a wheelchair, and when the fabric used as a tourniquet kept getting caught in its wheels he held it (this was initially mistaken for Arredondo pinching Bauman's femoral artery shut).

In a now iconic photograph Carlos Arredondo with his cowboy hat is helping rush Jeff Bauman, to an ambulance. He remains in touch with the victims of the bombings, including Jeff Bauman. Arredondo was a spectator of the race, there to support and he cheer on members of the National Guard and a suicide prevention group that were running in honor of his two deceased sons.

I could only add to your list but your list is good enough so I won't.

NO! Keep adding! There are so many good people out there! ADD MORE!

[Sal1981]

Bill Gates
Warren Buffet
Sam Harris


Norman Borlaug
Carl Sagan
Albert Einstein
Niels Bohr

Plato
Isis
Aristotle

---
A few.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

My parents. They weren't perfect, but raised 5 of us, shaped the men and women we are and I can't think of anyone I admire more.

That is all.

[mykcob4]

The obvious Nelson Mandella.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Barack Obama & Michelle Obama
David Attenborrough
Alan Arkin
Alan Alda
Marlo Thomas
Princess Diana
Ted Kennedy
Hillary Clinton
Ceasar Chavez
Albert Schweitzer
Siddhartha Gautama
James Madison & John Jay
John Locke & Thomas Paine
To name a few.

[leo]

The obvious Nelson Mandella.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Barack Obama & Michelle Obama
David Attenborrough
Alan Arkin
Alan Alda
Marlo Thomas
Princess Diana
Ted Kennedy
Hillary Clinton
Ceasar Chavez
Albert Schweitzer
Siddhartha Gautama
James Madison & John Jay
John Locke & Thomas Paine
To name a few.

I agree with your list.

[Shiranu]

I want to name some, but my brain is just saying, "No, there will be no Admirable People today!"...

I'll post them as I think of them, right now though these are the only ones really coming to mind. Doing these as pictures w/ quotes, if it is too obnoxious looking just tell me :P.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who was shot and now has become a huge spokes woman for education for everyone around the world.







Charlie Chaplin







Bruce Lee





Laozi

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

[mykcob4]

FDR
John Lennon
Cheif Joseph

[stromboli]

Temple Grandin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

Diagnosed with autism at age 2, has multiple degrees, is a humanitarian and spokesperson for the autistic, invented animal feeding systems and numerous other stuff. One awesome woman.

[mykcob4]

Temple Grandin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

Diagnosed with autism at age 2, has multiple degrees, is a humanitarian and spokesperson for the autistic, invented animal feeding systems and numerous other stuff. One awesome woman.

Ah you watched the program that aired about her tonight. Was it on a show called 'The Incredible Brain'?

[missingnocchi]

John Lennon

I used to feel that way too. This list is a pretty good representation of why I changed my mind. That's not to say I agree with all of it (like the 'talentless' part), but overall, John Lennon was a pretty awful person.

ETA that I very much admire Alan Turing, so as not to be a total wet blanket.

[stromboli]

Temple Grandin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

Diagnosed with autism at age 2, has multiple degrees, is a humanitarian and spokesperson for the autistic, invented animal feeding systems and numerous other stuff. One awesome woman.

Ah you watched the program that aired about her tonight. Was it on a show called 'The Incredible Brain'?

No, I read about her many moons ago, Kemosabe.