fbpx

Words to inspire the belief that we have all we need to be the change we wish to see.

Tag: Lincoln

Comfort zones are hard to leave

Comfort zones are hard to leave. I’m not much of a long distance driver. But when my two sons qualified for the World Irish Dance Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina this year, the only way for myself and my boys to get there was if I got in the driver’s seat. So I did just that.

I drove from Ontario to New York to Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Virginia to North Carolina for the international “Olympics of Irish Dance.” Then from Greensboro to Virginia to Washington D.C. for a fountain of knowledge adventure. Then from Washington to Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and home.

After slipping my boots off my tired feet last night I realized that anything is possible if you believe.

Both boys won the game of grit at the competition. My 16-year-old earned his personal best coming 23rd and my 13-year-old danced his heart out and left it all on the stage after having five weeks off with a broken foot prior to the big day. Their team also came 9th. The perseverance and resilience that comes from countless hours of practice and preparation before stepping onto that stage in front of seven international judges to dance for a handful of minutes is invaluable.

In Washington D.C. we were surprised by the lush greenery and the mountains of history. The idea that some people came together and wrote down a list of rules for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Freedom and democracy. The beauty of the monuments. The details and the symbolism. The 58 columns at the WWII Memorial representing the 50 states and 8 territories. Statues of soldiers from countless countries who fought and died in the Korean War to liberate South Korea. How the Vietnam Memorial Wall looks like a wound from the air and is meant to be read from the middle and around the outside and back to “close the wound.” That the Jefferson Memorial can be seen from the south side of the White House because FDR trimmed the trees to get that inspiring view, and JFK’s eternal resting place at Arlington can be seen from behind the Lincoln Memorial. That the Martin Luther King Memorial shows a stone of hope coming out of a mountain of despair and how MLK’s legs are not completely carved into the stone as the fight for civil rights continues and we are the legs to carry it on.

Inspiration comes from many places. I am inspired by my children who are able to share their talent on a world stage and dance like no one is watching. I am inspired by people who believed in democracy and came together to make it happen. And I am inspired by those brave souls who fought and died to remind us that freedom is not free.

The longer I spend on this journey, the more I realize that the destination is what happens along the way. And leaving comfort zones is the only way to see what needs to be seen. It’s the only way to go and the only way to grow.

Women have done some incredible things

Women have done some incredible things.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a physicist and scientist who discovered radium and was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize.  Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was a civil rights activist who helped change the world by refusing to give up her seat on the bus.  Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was the United Kingdom’s first female prime minister.  Lord Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was a mathematician who was also the first computer programmer. Sappho (570 BC) was the first known female writer and Plato said she was one of the ten greatest poets.  Cleopatra (69BC-30BC) was the leader of Egypt when the Roman Empire was trying to take over.  The patron saint of France, Joan of Arc (1412-1431) fought for France against the English and led them to a victory at Orleans when she was only 17 years old.  Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) wrote the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin and was an anti-slavery advocate.  Lincoln said her book was a catalyst for the American Civil War.  Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) fought for women’s rights and was a key player in the suffragette movement to get the vote for women.   Continue reading

The first one to get the news

I read an excerpt from the book Abraham Lincoln and the Irish:  The Untold Story by Niall O’Dowd and it was very interesting.  It explained that in 1865 in Ireland, a German newsman named Paul Julius Reuter had set up a telegraph line in a little village called Crookhaven in County Cork, Ireland.  This coastline was close enough for a rowboat to go out to the news ship instead of waiting for that ship to dock further down the coast at Cobh.  This allowed Reuter to be the first one to get the news from America and put it out across his telegraph line to the rest of Europe. Continue reading

© 2023 Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

Supported by GRIT Online, Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest blogs.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest