My inspiration

My cyberfriend, The Weaver of Grass, asked her regular readers to reflect on who inspires us. Click on her name to visit others.
I began to reflect on this assignment. Maya Angelou came to mind: fry cook, dancer, actress, journalist, educator, television producer, and film director, as well as author and poet. But she is well-lauded elsewhere.

In adversity, my blogger friends rise above their daily lives; they inspire me:

• A 24-year old, fighting cancer.
• Latane, who placed her husband with dementia, whom she's loved for 60 years, in a secure LTC home.
• Mog ("You hear some funny things when you are deaf"), who is sharing her story of hearing implants
• Rob, who in the twinkling of an eye, was transplanted and uprooted from Canada to the UK
  

All of the bloggers I follow inspire with their photo images and reflections on life.
The people I follow show me that every person is special, that beauty exists in everyone, in everything, and in every part of the world. They show it is a small world.

I am inspired by people, places and things: a beautiful piece of art, a photo, a precious turn of phrase, bodies of water, a reflection on life that illuminates the human condition.

Many people I see in the media have been singled out for awards and recognition after inspiring others. Everyone says nice things about these influential, public, high achievers. Of course, at your funeral you are home free. They find good things to say about you then. You're sure to win some good words, even Michael Jackson had some good press!

I am inspired by my husband who had the dignity to provide personal care for my father, while I was working, when Dad could not longer determine the function of a knife or fork. I lauded him in my book!

I am inspired by my adult children, who have made their way in this difficult world. They educate me, teach me how to be a better person. Collectively, they have fought ignorance, pollution, failure, bullies, and all found jobs in a difficult economic climate.

My heroes, too, are the single women who carry on in adversity. Alone, impoverished, uneducated, on hourly wages, no benefits, without enough money for basics for themselves, let alone their children. Yet, they get up every day and fight for their lives. I have taught many of their children and, I hope, made a difference. I remember them all.

My career over, I seek inspiration in the creatures that surround me. You can read about them at My Muskoka! I believe that the universe sends us who or what we need at the time. Every day you will find inspiration around you. You just have to open your eyes.
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Appears a hero in our eyes.
--Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."
--John Donne, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, 1624