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There are a few one man army like this. Dashrath Manjhi is best known for carving a 110-metre-long (360 ft), 9.1-metre-wide (30 ft), and 7.7-metre-deep (25 ft)

There are a few one man army like this. Dashrath Manjhi is best known for carving a 110-metre-long (360 ft), 9.1-metre-wide (30 ft), and 7.7-metre-deep (25 ft) path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel, because his wife fell and died from injuries due to the ridge blocking easy access to a nearby hospital on time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashrath_Manjhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashrath_Manjhi

embedding-shape 3mo ago
> path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel I know you put the numbers and everything, but I didn't quite grasp just what a monumentous task this was until I saw the image of the "path through a ridge": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Link_between_Ghivra_Mauja_in_Gehlaur_Ghati_to_Atara_Prakhand_Wazirganj_made_by_Dashrath_Manjhi_IMG_20191127_145150.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Link_between_Ghivra_... It is absolutely bananas (and wonderful!) what a single human can achieve with love, passion and determination.
- zemvpferreira 3mo ago
  I echo that sentiment but oppose the positive adjectives tied to his motivation. Rather I believe can be at our best when motivated by our dark emotions towards positive actions: Grief, rage, madness. Mr. Manjhi was compelled to this momentous thing after his world was torn apart by it. He persevered while the very people whose lives and whose children's lives he was improving mocked him. He worked for 20 years compelled by his demons and the universe is better off for it. I hope destroying the mountain gave him peace.
  - embedding-shape 3mo ago
    I dunno. Grief, rage and madness can only take you so far. The care and compassion for other human beings is what makes you continue. I don't think he'd be able to hammer down such a path for the duration of 20+ years unless he was deeply passionate about preventing the same issue for others in the future, even if they mocked and taunted him at the time.
    - KajMagnus 3mo ago
      He got some support too, later: (from the Wikipedia article) "though most villagers taunted me at first, there were quite a few who lent me support later by giving me food and helping me buy my tools"
      - embedding-shape 3mo ago
        No one wants to be the one that dances first, no one wants to be the person that dances last
  - squigz 3mo ago
    Grief, at least, is not necessarily a dark emotion. It is an inevitable part of love, which is itself almost always full of good and bad emotions. "Misery is wasted on the miserable." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTbkEeCTeM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTbkEeCTeM
  - hiccuphippo 3mo ago
    It feels like an Orphan-crushing machine[0] kind of story. It's amazing he achieved that but he shouldn't have needed to. Why wasn't there a road already? [0] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orphan-crushing-machine https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orphan-crushing-machine
    - squigz 3mo ago
      It doesn't need to be one or the other. You can be angry that the machine exists - and work to destroy it - but you can also appreciate people doing the work to stop orphans from being crushed. And you don't always have to do both at once. If you only engage in the former... well, then orphans just keep getting crushed while you try to figure out how to stop it. And keep in mind the machine is much smarter than you, and has been doing this a long time and is really good at it and is always getting better, and is supported by various systems to protect it, and...
- tverbeure 3mo ago
  It has Google Streetview! https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bNdpnHTEjehj1kV8 https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bNdpnHTEjehj1kV8
pm90 3mo ago
I … feel like this isn’t a feel good story? This man put 22 years of his life into something that could be done is less than a week with explosives/modern machinery?

embedding-shape 3mo ago

> path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel I know you put the numbers and everything, but I didn't quite grasp just what a monumentous task this was until I saw the image of the "path through a ridge": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Link_between_Ghivra_Mauja_in_Gehlaur_Ghati_to_Atara_Prakhand_Wazirganj_made_by_Dashrath_Manjhi_IMG_20191127_145150.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Link_between_Ghivra_... It is absolutely bananas (and wonderful!) what a single human can achieve with love, passion and determination.

zemvpferreira 3mo ago
I echo that sentiment but oppose the positive adjectives tied to his motivation. Rather I believe can be at our best when motivated by our dark emotions towards positive actions: Grief, rage, madness. Mr. Manjhi was compelled to this momentous thing after his world was torn apart by it. He persevered while the very people whose lives and whose children's lives he was improving mocked him. He worked for 20 years compelled by his demons and the universe is better off for it. I hope destroying the mountain gave him peace.
- embedding-shape 3mo ago
  I dunno. Grief, rage and madness can only take you so far. The care and compassion for other human beings is what makes you continue. I don't think he'd be able to hammer down such a path for the duration of 20+ years unless he was deeply passionate about preventing the same issue for others in the future, even if they mocked and taunted him at the time.
  - KajMagnus 3mo ago
    He got some support too, later: (from the Wikipedia article) "though most villagers taunted me at first, there were quite a few who lent me support later by giving me food and helping me buy my tools"
    - embedding-shape 3mo ago
      No one wants to be the one that dances first, no one wants to be the person that dances last
- squigz 3mo ago
  Grief, at least, is not necessarily a dark emotion. It is an inevitable part of love, which is itself almost always full of good and bad emotions. "Misery is wasted on the miserable." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTbkEeCTeM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTbkEeCTeM
- hiccuphippo 3mo ago
  It feels like an Orphan-crushing machine[0] kind of story. It's amazing he achieved that but he shouldn't have needed to. Why wasn't there a road already? [0] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orphan-crushing-machine https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orphan-crushing-machine
  - squigz 3mo ago
    It doesn't need to be one or the other. You can be angry that the machine exists - and work to destroy it - but you can also appreciate people doing the work to stop orphans from being crushed. And you don't always have to do both at once. If you only engage in the former... well, then orphans just keep getting crushed while you try to figure out how to stop it. And keep in mind the machine is much smarter than you, and has been doing this a long time and is really good at it and is always getting better, and is supported by various systems to protect it, and...
tverbeure 3mo ago
It has Google Streetview! https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bNdpnHTEjehj1kV8 https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bNdpnHTEjehj1kV8

pm90 3mo ago

I … feel like this isn’t a feel good story? This man put 22 years of his life into something that could be done is less than a week with explosives/modern machinery?