When rewriting my model "Who I Am" essay for my students, I realized I didn't just have to update the part about my dreams of having a child...I needed to update the quote in the opening paragraph, too.
Last year it was, "Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory," said by George S. Patton. Well, I accepted the challenges but I wasn't left feeling exhilarated in my victory, but battered and reduced to transformative goo, so it just felt...wrong. The quote is supposed to relate to your life, to introduce this idea of Who I Am. And that just didn't feel like a representative quote anymore.
So I found this one:
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
- Helen Keller
Way, WAY better, no? And applicable to so, so many different types of trial and suffering. Good one, Helen Keller.
Want to read more #Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy!
WAY WAY better!! Such a wonderful quote, and so much more believable to most school students, who might struggle to believe that they can accept challenges and achieve victory. I have a blog brewing around this attitude - you have prompted me to work on getting it done!
ReplyDeletePerfect. Helen Keller's autobiography was one of the first more adult books I read as a child, along with my mom. Can't say I remember much about it but it made an impression. Even though I work with children with disabilities now, the thought of a child....my child?.... going through what she did feels overwhelming. She knew what she was talking about.
ReplyDeleteI love this! Very fitting.
ReplyDeleteI love this Helen Keller quote. It is definitely more fitting. Something about an exhilarating victory doesn't sit well with me, maybe because the only other option to victory is loss? Definitely, Helen Keller for the win!
ReplyDeleteLove that quote by Helen Keller. Jess, you don't need any quote to tell yourself anything. I have been on this space on many Mondays and I love you for your strength. You are awesome and I know that when it's time, it will be your time. <3
ReplyDeleteWow. This is perfect. I may have to use this quote, because you're right. It can describe so many things!
ReplyDeleteSo perfect. And inspiring. Or how about this?
ReplyDelete"Goo is poo."
You can meme it if you'd like, HAHA!
Good one! :) (Like Torthuil, I read Helen Keller's autobiography many years ago when I was a kid... I found her story fascinating.)
ReplyDeleteI love the quote.
ReplyDeleteLove that quote.
ReplyDelete