Hans Rosling: A Sincere Thank You and a Sincere Request

Dan Meyer, president, Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI)

With the death of my fellow Swedish sword swallower friend and TED speaker Hans Rosling this week, it makes me appreciate how short life can be. And with World Sword Swallower's Day only a few days away on Saturday, it makes me reflect on the sword swallowers we lost in the past year. So today I raise a sword salute in honor of Hans Rosling -- not so much for his sword swallowing, but more for the surprisingly profound way he changed my life on the first time we met... and swallowed swords together.

The first time I met Hans Rosling was at the Stockholm Centralen station not far from Karolinska Institutet where he worked. It was October 2008, the year after his first big TED talk "New insights on poverty," and only a few months after I had won the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine at Harvard. I had lived and worked in Stockholm in the 90s, and still hold Stockholm dear to my heart. But this time, I was there on a different mission: as president of the Sword Swallowers Association International to welcome Hans into the Sword Swallowers Association International as our most famous Swedish sword swallower, induct him into our Hall of Fame, and present him his SSAI patch and t-shirt.

Hans and I first met on a cool October morning in 2008 on the cobblestone entrance just outside the bustling Stockholm Centralen station.

After exchanging greetings, we talked briefly about our common pasts and how we had both lived and worked in India where we had both witnessed sword swallowing first-hand in the place where it had originated.

Then Hans told me how he became fascinated with sword swallowing. He said that while he was attending medical school in Uppsala, his best friend was a magician. "When they were shown an x-ray of a sword swallower, we were fascinated!" Hans decided to try it. But he failed and just could not learn sword swallowing at the time. He said it wasn't until years later when he had a sword swallower as a patient that Hans learned sword swallowing from his patient.

As I presented Hans with his official SSAI shirt and patch, he grinned with the childlike excitement of a child getting ready to see the circus for the first time.

Then he asked if I had brought an extra sword along for him to swallow. 

"Of course!" I said. "But right here, in front of Centralen? In public? With all these 'Polisen' around?" 

"Ja!" he exclaimed in his soft but energetic Swedish accent. "They all know me!" 

"Because of your TED talk?" I asked. 

"Yes," he answered excitedly. "You wouldn't believe how much that helped spread my ideas!"

Then he added ten words that changed my life.

"Maybe you should do a TED talk on sword swallowing..."

I will never forget that moment.

I dug two of my favorite swords out of my sword duffel bag and let Hans choose the one he wanted to swallow. He chose a nice little single-edged saber with 22 inch long blade, nicknamed "My Pride", one of the first swords I ever swallowed. I grabbed my favorite 24 inch long double-edged sword, and glanced around nervously at the police and security guards nearby. They usually take a dim view of anyone brandishing shiny weapons around high traffic areas like train and subway stations.

Hans and I both glanced at each other with a mischievous grin. With a nod, we quickly raised our swords and swallowed them at the same time, right there in full view of the amazed public and police in front of Stockholm's Central station. We leaned over and pulled the swords out of each other's throats. By the time we finished, people had stopped walking and were staring in stunned disbelief at the unusual sight they'd just witnessed at Centralen.

But something more happened that day.

That day changed my life. It was a turning point in my life.

That day, because of Hans Rosling's encouragement, I decided that I needed to do my own TED talk and tell my story about how swallowing swords helped me cut through social anxiety and fear -- how something as abnormal as swallowing swords actually helped make me normal by building the courage to find my purpose and calling. Hans' comment changed the trajectory of my life.

I don't know if Hans realized what an impact he made on my life that day.

Nearly five years later, on September 4, 2013, I did my first TED talk at TEDxMaastricht Netherlands, one of the largest TEDx events in Europe. Encouraged by Hans' inspiration, I infused some of his ideas into my talk, the "the impossible is NOT impossible". The response was overwhelming -- the talk has gone viral and has now been translated into over 50 languages.

So today I want to offer my sincerest thanks to Hans Rosling. Not only to Hans and his family, but to everyone who has inspired me along the way, to everyone who has encouraged me and commented on my TED talks, and for the 50+ of my fellow Amara TED Translators who have translated my talks into their languages and helped spread Hans' and my simple ideas to billions of people who can now watch them in their languages.

I also wanted to ask a simple but sincere request of you: if you enjoyed Hans' TED talks and the simple message of my TED talks -- that "the impossible is not impossible" -- that you might continue to spread ideas worth spreading to your friends so that our ideas can continue spreading even further. 

And then, like Hans Rosling did for me, I want to encourage you with a sincere request: I challenge you to TELL YOUR STORY, spread your idea, to continue the ripple effect and change someone else's world in your own way, as Hans changed mine. 

So in honor of Hans Rosling, I raise a sword salute in his honor. And to ideas worth spreading. And on Saturday, February 25th, the world's top sword swallower members of the Sword Swallowers Association International will raise our swords together on the 10th annual World Sword Swallower's Day in honor on Hans and other sword swallowers at Ripley's Believe It or Not museums around the world.

Sk?l, Hans. Och tack s? mycket. We honor you with a sincere thank you. You have changed my world, and by doing so, you continue to change the world of others today.

The impossible is not impossible. Thank you, Hans for reminding me.