The ties that connected all of these TED speakers as they stood on stage, whether confidently or on the more shaken side, were the admission of "this is who I was, this is who I have been, this is who I am, and that is all that I am willing to offer you". Vulnerability bounced off the walls like an echo from the speaker systems. I sat through talk after talk with an army of 1, feeling the presence of people who have lived and are not afraid to say so. I watched speakers standing on stage asking to be judge, asking to be challenged and disagreed with in hopes of having an additional opportunity to defend their truths. The power that I bottled from these brave individuals was no stronger than that which is currently in me. The only difference is that they realized that activism meets you where you are.
