Seeing those less fortunate than us, has always been an inspiration to be grateful and count our blessings.

However, when we, despite all that we are blessed with, sulk over the little that we are deprived of, and then see someone, who has just a fraction of what we have, smiling and being cheerful, more than being inspirational, it is humiliating, and serves as a huge wakeup call.

True, isn’t it?

Toph Bei Fong of Avatar: The Last Airbender is one such character, who has embraced her disabilities with immense grace, and made us realize that not even the greatest of shortcomings are worth crying and getting disappointed over.

Toph is the only blind character in the series, and despite being pulled back and considered worthless by her parents, she has always believed in herself and tried to discover what her strengths are, instead of allowing her weakness define her life.

Even though her parents kept her confined and refused to introduce her to the society around her, she used her company with the blind Badgermoles to develop skills that made her a blind Earth-bending master.

But that was just the beginning of her willpower, which over the course of the series, was to stun and inspire millions, who watched the show.

She made the most of the senses in her that worked, by using her superior hearing ability and sense of touch to detect changes in people’s heartbeat, when they lied.

Her sense of self-worth and self-admiration is always wonderful to watch.

Tune in to Avatar The Last Airbender online to see how she does not allow anyone to ever put her down, or make her feel worthless, because of her disabilities.

As you watch this character, you are sure to fall in love with her, despite her cocky attitude, and you shall definitely be learning a wonderful lesson, each time you watch her braving against all odds, to make the best of what she has.

You could learn a lesson or two from her too!

Imagine if you could just crush metal like paper, wouldn’t that be super cool!

No more bullying in school, because you are armed with the metal bending technique!

Alas, I cannot earn this power!

(Sob sob)!

This technique evolves from earth-bending and an earth-bender can bend metal, just like they can bend earth.

But, how can an earth-bender bend metal?

Aren’t they two different elements?

Yes, they are two different elements; but here comes the coolest part – metal being present in earth makes the metal bendable.

You need more explanation?

See, according to Toph, if you concentrate on the earth particles present in metal and bend them, the metal will automatically bend.

Hmmm, that is something unusual.

You can watch Toph practicing metal-bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender. I observed his techniques carefully to fully understand this special technique.

The episodes featuring Toph are available online.

This technique was first used, or should I say, developed by Toph, when she was captured in a metal cage by Xin Fu and Master Yu. She set herself free by bending the cage.

However, the metal-bending technique has its own limitations. Like, in Toph’s case, she has to be close to the metal object, in order to bend it.

Toph is able to deform sheets of metal, but cannot reform it. This was evident when she tried to escape from a wooden cell, but couldn’t touch a metal cell that was nearby.

This technique cannot bend metal with less impurity, like gold. Nonetheless, this technique is immensely powerful, especially when the earth-bender has direct contact with the metal.

In one of the episodes, Toph was seen blasting a metal door with it hinges. The intensity was such that it reverberated four times, before coming to a stop!

Metal-bending is certainly a cool technique to master, and Toph is one lucky earth-bender!

I so envy her!

Just to warm up all of us before the much-awaited sequel of Avatar: The Last Airbender called the Legend of Korra, which is expected to go on air in 2012, the company, Dark Horse Comics, is going to release a new series of Avatar comics!

This comic is called Avatar: The Last Airbender – Promise Part 1. It’s going to be penned by the Eisner Award winning writer Gene Luen Yang. Yang himself loves to watch Avatar cartoons.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a story having Asian mythological influences. It is set in a fictional era when our world was divided into four kingdoms: the Earth Kingdom, the Fire nation, the Water Tribes and the Air nomads. Peace between these four territories is maintained by Airbenders, Waterbenders, Earthbenders and Firebenders. Catch the show online to witness its creative concept!

Above all these peacemakers is the ultimate power called Avatar, who uses martial arts to bend all the four elements of nature. The story follows the protagonist Aang and his friends as they battle a villainous fire lord.

Taking cue from the massive success of the earlier seasons of the show, Nickolodeon has announced a sequel called The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra.

Gene Luen Yang, with the help of the creators of the animated series, is writing the Airbender graphic novel. This will be an 80-page novel in paperback that will be available in January 2012.

In a recent interview, Yang said that he has taken inspiration only from the Airbender television series and has not even watched the movie made on the same concept.

If you remember, the writer had expressed his opposition to the M. Night Shyamalam directed film The Last Airbender in 2010 as well, because he thought that the portrayal of the Asian boy Aang by a Caucasian in the movie was inappropriate and against the spirit of the character.

Well, we hope the new graphic novel hits the bookstores soon!