Sam Burns: The Little Drummer Boy with the Big Happy

Sam Burns a 17 year old with Progeria, a snare drummer for his highschool marching band gave this TED talk last fall on the theme of his life philosophy and the huge premium he put on happiness.

I watched this over and over.  Can't get enough of it.  One of his big aspirations was to contribute in such a way as to change the world.  As I watched I was holding that hope for him as well.  Then while preparing this post, I happened to glance down at the comments on the YouTube page and saw that he'd passed away in January.

Well I expect that between all the lives that he touched during the exemplary life that he lived, this video that's gone viral and the HBO documentary about his life that aired last October he has triggered change in enough people that the cumulative ripple effect can't help but change the world.

I know I was changed by my encounter with him in this video.