能量爆棚！13岁印度裔“残疾”男孩的TED演讲：创造奇迹，只因我从不畏惧！（附视频&演讲稿）

一出生就伴有有35处骨折、无法站立的的印度男孩儿Sparsh Shah，刚来到这个世界上就被医生下达了病危通知书，天生患有脆骨症，也就是''瓷娃娃''，导致这辈子都无法站立或行动，只能以轮椅代步。

可他不仅活了下来，还创造了更大的奇迹：这个戴眼镜的印度小男孩，看起来斯斯文文的他，超强翻唱埃米纳姆Eminem的《Not Afraid》创造了千万的观看量，既有劲道又有独特的风格，曾让百万网友们都惊艳。

当他年满12岁的时候Sparsh Shah，坐在轮椅上，穿着白衬衫在TED舞台上讲述了他励志又力量爆棚的成长故事。来听听他是如何创造的奇迹吧！

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Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

HippopotomonstrosesquiPPedaliophobia.

Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (PPHP).

Floccinaucinihilipilification.

Antidisestablishmentarianism.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus.

Electroencephalographically.

Antitransubstantiationalist.

Disproportionableness.

Incomprehensibilities.

So what you just heard were some of the 11 longest words in the English dictionary. Such complex words, right?

Well, just as these words are complex, so has my own life been. And although seemingly difficult things, such as memorizing long and complex words and numbers are simple for me, seemingly simple things such as standing and bearing weight are impossible for me. That’s because I wasn’t like any other newborn baby.

I was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare incurable genetic disorder that causes a person’s bones to be extremely fragile. So I guess you can call me Mr. Glass now.

During my birth, I had over 35 fractures and was taken immediately to the intensive care unit. And these were the sounds that used to resonate throughout the hospital, those desperately clinging on to my life. The doctors gave me the very bleak prognosis that I’d only live for a day or two, but due to God’s grace and the support of my parents and their never-say-die attitude, I survived. In fact — thank you, thank you.

In fact, I’ve had 130 fractures so far in just the first 13 years of my life and only God knows how many more will happen. I’ve also had multiple screws and rods placed in my body. So I guess you can call me Iron Man as well. Ironic, am I right? But anyways, no more sob stories, because that’s not what I want to talk to you about today.

So now what do you see in the slide in the back? Can you tell me? Impossible, right. OK, good.

Now what do you all see?

“I am possible”

Thank you. Yeah, awesome and that’s exactly what I want to share with you all today: how I turned the word “Impossible” into “I’m possible” in my life by following four simple steps.

Step 1: Find your passion. Now despite the fact that I did live a very rough life for the first few years, God opened a new door to it that would become my passion and change my life forever. And that was music. Music has had a tremendous impact on me, both physically and emotionally.

I started singing ever since I could speak. And in fact, I even used to correct my parents when they were singing off-key by saying, “Mom, dad, you’re not singing right”.

At the tender age of 6, my parents enrolled me into Indian classical vocal training. Much later on, I also started taking American vocal lessons, therefore helping to increase my versatility as a singer. But I found my true calling as an artist at the age of 10 when I wrote my first song “This love will never fade”. Since then I’ve written 11 more songs.

Step 2: Never hold yourself back. So one day I came across an amazing rap song many of you may have heard of: “Not Afraid” by none other than Eminem, also known as Slim Shady. This song struck my chords and was so inspirational to me that I could not hold myself back. And I decided that I had to go out there and make a cover of it myself. Who knew that the boy with slim chances of survival would go on to sing Slim Shady songs one day?

But wait, there’s more. I didn’t just rap the song like any other person. First of all, I have not been in profanity. So I decided to make my rapper name, Purhythm. In other words, I’m clean, no curses but I’m still all about the rhythm.

I also added my own touch of Indian classical music to the song, which is part of a new music genre that I want to pioneer called raga rap with a fusion of seemingly polar opposites: Indian classical music and hip hop. I know right now to some of you the idea may sound completely crazy. But trust me, in the end the result is beautiful.

To my pleasant surprise, the cover blew up all over the internet and it became a worldwide phenomenon. I received praises from some of the most famous celebrities out there, and today the cover has gotten over 55 million views and counting on all social media sites so far. Thank you.

And because I decided that I would not hold myself back and instead decide out to go out and display my musical talent to the world, I was able to achieve these among many other achievements that I’ve been very blessed to have achieved to this day.

Step 3: Help others. Now I’ve been singing pro bono for various non-profit organizations and by now I’ve helped to raise at least half a million dollars for them. Thank you. And yes, that is American dollars by the way. Because I know we’re in India right now so.

But I believe that the biggest satisfaction for all of us is when we get to help change someone else’s life for the better, doesn’t it give us such an immense amount of gratitude? For example, I was once contacted by a family who had a child with brittle bones just like me. He’s about to go into surgery and was very nervous. But his parents reached out to me and we had a FaceTime call which went very well and on the day of the surgery his parents sent us this pic with a smiling Xavier going into the surgery without any fear. Thank you.

And last but not least Dream Big. None of this would have ever happened if I had not dreamed big. But my ultimate goal as a musician is still to one day perform in front of a billion. Yes, you heard me right. A billion people one day. I want to leave my footprints, or rather track prints into the sand of legacies so deep not even a tsunami can erase it. And I firmly believe that every one of us here should strive for such big goals. I mean, don’t you all want to be remembered when you leave this earth?

I also have many plans for my life in the future, especially in my musical career. I want to join an online bachelor’s degree course in music at the age of 13, come up with many original albums, win a Grammy Award one day and most importantly, sparsh (touch) everyone’s hearts all over the world. Thank you. Oh, thank you.

But remember — it’s still not over yet, I promise you. Yes, where was I – sparsh-ing everyone’s hearts, right? I want to spread the message that no matter what happens in your life, you should never ever give up on your passion. Everyone in this world goes through struggle of some sort, and I know, because I for one have to deal with constant fractures and lots of pain. But I believe that if I can turn “Impossible” into “I’m possible” in my life, you can too. If you can believe it, you can achieve it. And I firmly believe that if you push forward and have faith you will make it big anywhere in life. Thank you so much.

But wait up, before you guys do a standing ovation, it’s not over yet, because I’d like to leave you all with a very special gift from me to you. This is my rendition of raga rap in Eminem’s “Not Afraid”. Purhythm style. So thank you again.

↓↓↓ 上下滑动，查看摘要稿 ↓↓↓

Sparsh Shah, a 13-year-old singing prodigy who lives in the US, was born with almost 40 fractures. He has given more than 45 performances in just the last year-and-a-half. 

Sparsh (aka Purhythm) has written 10 songs – “This Love Will Never Fade,” “There’s Always Tomorrow,” “Why’d You Have To Leave Me?”, “You Are My Heroes,” “Count on Me,” “A Little Bit of Respect,” “Turn Around,” “Birthday Wishes,” “You’re The One,” and “No One Knows.” He has composed the music for most of them too.

Listen to him pay homage to his favourite Eminem here:

Aren’t you still feeling that beat? Sparsh has been learning Hindustani classical music for the last seven-and-a-half years and American vocal music for the last three years.

Sparsh is multi-talented. He performs at community events and has appeared on local radio stations and television shows, besides hosting shows as an MC.

He has memorized 250 digits of Pi, can say the 12 longest words in the English dictionary in less than 18 seconds, and can speak in four different accents in English. He has written several poems, short stories, motivational/funny speeches (“I am Disabled”), etc., and acted in the developmental reading of a play called The Greatest Choice at the Crossroads theatre in New Jersey. He was able to spell a 45 letter word, “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” at the age of 6.

Hiren and Jigisha Shah migrated to the US some 14 years ago. In 2003, when Sparsh was born, they could never have imagined their little boy would touch millions of hearts soon.

His parents, however, could experience the joy of holding their baby only after six months of his birth – Sparsh had broken 35-40 bones while emerging from his mother’s womb.

Sparsh was born with an incurable disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

This condition makes his bones extremely fragile and brittle – even a hard handshake can break his bones. He cannot bear weight on his hands and legs, so he cannot walk or run like other normal kids. He has had more than 125 fractures in the first 12 years of his life already and the doctors cannot predict how many more are to come.

In April 2015, Sparsh participated in and won the prestigious talent competition Young Voice of NYC, and was honoured to be made the ‘Youth Ambassador’ for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He now supports the hospital in spreading awareness about the fight against pediatric cancer.

Sparsh has been a catalyst in helping raise over half a million dollars for various philanthropic organisations.

Sparsh was also a member of the Watt NXT Robotics team that won at the state and regional levels in the US. He participated in the first World Robotics Championship in St. Louis, MO in 2015. Sparsh won the first prize in the speech competition about Dr.Ambedkar at the Indian Consulate in New York City in November 2015. Sparsh also participated won the Swardhara Singing Competition organized by Marathi Vishwa, New Jersey, in February 2016.

He always thanks his parents and grandparents for his success:

“I don’t see myself as disabled. I just dis the ‘dis’ from disabled. Most people with disability always keep thinking about their disability and that makes others think about it too. I want to be the courage of such people,” says Sparsh with a smile.

When Sparsh was just three years old, he started learning the keyboard and reading books. However, as his bones kept breaking, it was difficult for him to continue to learn the keyboard and he had to stop playing.

Watch him say hello to The Better India readers here. (Thank you Sparsh for this!)

Once, when he was three-and-a-half, his family was travelling in the car and his father switched on the radio. To his parents’ surprise, Sparsh remembered the song that was playing on the radio and started singing along. They thought that he perhaps knew the song because it was a well known one. But then, he sang the second, the third and even the fourth song that was played on the radio. When they asked Sparsh about this, he said his preschool bus driver played the same channel and that is how he had memorized all the songs. This was the beginning of the making of this gifted singer and musician.

“Dreams are not enough, Hard work is what turns them into reality! And so, he makes sure that he works hard enough to make his dreams come true,” says Jigisha Shah, Sparsh’s mother.

Sparsh started learning Indian classical music at the age of 6 and is a student of Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music (PJIM) since 2009. He also learns American vocal music.

“All we tell him is that no matter what situation you have in life, never limit yourself!. We believe that Sparsh is a miracle who has come to this world to do something extra special,” says Hiren Shah (Sparsh’s father)

A 7th grader, Sparsh is also excellent in his studies. He has a 5-year-old brother named Anuj who plays video games with him.

Sparsh has gone through multiple surgeries for his brittle bones. His parents help him write when he has fractures, or he uses voice to text technology to do his homework.

When asked how he deals with the pain, he says: “There is not much you can do about pain…isn’t it? Crying is just a natural response to pain but you need to smile. This is what my Papa taught me since I was small. He said that I should tell my bones to smile whenever there is a fracture. If I don’t smile at them, they won’t respond to me with a smile. And so, whenever there is an x-ray after a fracture, I look at my bones and say – Smile please bones.”

Sparsh loves rapping as he believes that rap makes even sad songs come alive; rapping keeps the spark going. This huge fan of Eminem also loves Bollywood songs. “Abhi mujh me kahi” by Sonu Nigam is his favourite Hindi song.

He met musician Neel a year-and-a-half ago, at a Karaoke competition. They sang together. Since then, Neel and Sparsh have been inseparable musical buddies  and they have written a wonderful motivational duet: “Count On Me.”

Sparsh recently auditioned for America’s Got Talent and is waiting for the results, which will be out by March 2016.

He won the first prize in Gaan Nipun Spardha, a prestigious singing competition organized by PJIM and was awarded a certificate of recognition by none other than the stalwart of Hindustani classical music, Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj, on February 27, 2016.

Despite all the challenges he has faced, Sparsh’s spirit is unbreakable. He aspires to sing in front of a billion people one day.

“I want to leave the marks of my footprints (aka wheelchair tracks ;)) in the sand of legacy so deep that not even a tsunami can erase them,” concludes Sparsh.

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