Who Inspires You?

There is no use trying, said Alice; one can't believe impossible things. I dare say you haven't had much practice, said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Lewis Carroll

One of the things I think about the people who have inspired me personally is that they believed in me and what I could accomplish. Sometimes they believed in me before I did myself. It was that believe that spurned me on. My old high school English teacher, Mr. Horne, would look me square in the eye and ask me about college, as if there were no other option for me. For years after he was my teacher, he would run into me and face me off, demanding with his tone that I deliver what he knew I was capable of. People like him gave me the strength to continue when it got hard. I knew he could see I was capable of the future I dreamed of. Mr. Horne, I owe him a lot. As a transfer student in ninth grade, he made sure I was put into Regents classes and pointed toward the college path. And every chance he had, he made sure I knew I could and I was expected to succeed. He knew how to push my performance buttons. I have thought of him many times over the years. He was one of my first career guides. I suspect he is long gone, as he was close to retirement when I was just a kid. But he lives on with me. In my heart and in my lifelong desire to seek knowledge and growth.

Mary Donn is one such person to my daughter. She looks at her and sees what she is capable of, what she can deliver to the team and for herself. She expects it and gives it herself. What a gift.

Who inspires you?

Share in the comments section!