What better material can one desire when writing one's 100th "cuff" (from Sydney) than the case of two "tiny tots" - one in India, the other in Sydney - who, in amazingly un-childlike fashion have demonstrated the indomitable nature of the human spirit.
Four-year-old Budhia Singh born in remote Orissa, India, is, perhaps, more familiar to readers in the Gulf.
To be able to, at that age, run 65 kilometres "at one go" and, at the end of it all, still have the will to say, "I could have run more," well that says it all, doesn't it, about a spirit that refuses to lie down and be conquered.
The youngster, who apparently is still given to sucking his thumb, was allegedly nearly bartered away by his poverty-stricken mother.
Today, even before he can spell "mummy" he's going to have to learn to recognise the word "celebrity", having already had his name initialled in India's Limca Book of Records.
Words dry up when trying to place this achievement in perspective.
This is because one has watched even seasoned Olympians finish a marathon and, despite their years of practice and honing of skills, haul themselves across the finish line exhausted.
Yet, here's a four-year-old, running more than the marathon distance, being forced to end his effort by doctors who were worried he was showing signs of exhaustion and saying, at the end, bring it on, give me more!
It fires me, a person who at the most walks a brisk three kilometres, with a desire to test my own limits.
It makes me determined to stay alive another ten years at least to see what this young man can, hopefully, go on to achieve, how many records he will break, how he will make himself into a household name.
Sophie Delezio is another whose courage one would want to bottle and sell. Sophie is five. In 2003 she would have been two going on three.
In that year, her body became trapped under a car that crashed into her day care centre.
In the incident, little Sophie lost both feet and some fingers. Eighty-five per cent of her body was burned.
She underwent an extensive period of painful rehab but the cheerful way in which she was able to smile at people when the pain was not there captured the entire nation.
Her progress was monitored nationally and, I suspect, millions of people derived their own motivation from the way Sophie dealt with her situation.
Recently, now aged five, she was being wheeled across a pedestrian crossing when a car, another car - driven we are told by reports here by an 80-year-old man - hit her.
This second accident has left the little girl with a broken jaw and shoulder bone, countless fractures to the ribs and bleeding lungs.
Initially, a shocked nation ? that could not come to terms with the "lightning strikes twice" nature of the incident - held out absolutely no hope as the youngster went into emergency intensive care and was placed on a list of the critically injured.
Admiration
Twenty-four hours later, the doctors handling her case began expressing hope, not even cautious hope, but buoyant expectation and, once again, a nation rose in silent admiration.
At a time when two miners in Tasmania were spending their tenth day underground, trapped in a cramped cage-like space, hoping any moment to walk free as their rescuers battled to subdue the stubborn rock enclosing them, at such a time, Sophie's and young Budhia Singh's determination to keep going, against all odds, gives one hope for everyone, everywhere who may, in some similar fashion, find themselves confronting insurmountable obstacles that, they think, could finish them off.
Well, think Sophie Delezio. Think Budhia Singh. Think: This is a sneak preview of the towering strength each of us possesses deep within.
In times when inspiration is, sometimes, spread thin, these are two uplifting accounts that deserve to be shared.
Kevin Martin is a journalist based in Sydney.
