[masklinn]

I wouldn't call that a "great" story since it was ultimately not just pointless but actively harmful to everyone.

Dashrath Manjhi's story is one I would qualify of "great", after his wife sadly died from what he perceived was a delay of care due to his village remoteness, he resolved to straight carve a roadway through the ridge abutting his village (over which the nearest town was located). Spent 20 years carving a 110m long and 9m wide road through the ridge, apparently with hammer and chisel.

[jacquesm]

Probably several chisels, and maybe even multiple hammers. I've done my share of chiseling and I've never worn one out yet but I'm not in the habit to going through 100+ meters of rock, even so my cold chisel is probably only about 80% the size that it was when I first bought it.

[masklinn]

Oh yes absolutely, he explained that initially the other villagers had thought him crazy, then after a few years and visible progress some started giving him food or chipping in for tools replacement.

[jacquesm]

The sheer perseverance is humbling. I have a hard time staying focused on anything for much longer than week, and those tend to be interesting and intellectually rewarding, to be focused on transforming rock to rubble and removing it for decades is somewhere just below 'god mode'.

[saalweachter]

"When all you have is a hammer"?