Making a Literary Life: Who Inspires You?

This week, a couple of us at the Writers' Group shared how musicians inspire us. In their talent, drive and heart, they show us how they followed their dream. This week, we want to share how others - non-writers - inspire us. Tell us who inspires you.

Lisa Marnell
For me, it has to be athletes, and it barely matters what sport it is. In the last winter Olympics, there was a Russian skater whose story brought me to tears. And what about Justine Henning, the champion tennis player from Belgium who recently retired. When she was fourteen she went to a tennis match with her mom and promised her mom that she would play at that level some day. Her mom never lived to see Justine win a Grand Slam.

Amy MacKinnon
John Walsh inspires me. When his son Adam was abducted and later found ed, Mr. Walsh didn't crumble they way most of us would. Instead, he gathered whatever reserves he had and devoted his life to helping abused children by co-founding the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and producing and hosting America's Most Wanted. One man, one man shouldering the most excruciating burden, and he has helped change the world for thousands of people.

Hannah Roveto
I am most inspired by regular people who rise above whatever is going on in their lives with integrity, dignity and compassion. Friends, neighbors, relatives. Randy Pausch, the professor who has become famous for his Last Lecture is inspirational, and not for the reasons you might think at first. He was a regular guy handling everyday adversity with strength and humor at inspirational levels, only few people knew that. His diagnosis put him in the spotlight; certainly, he continues to deal with the most difficult hand that can be dealt with grace. However, it's his successes along the way, showing how a can-do approach and sense of humor deliver real rewards, that is his most inspirational -- and generous -- message to other everyday people. He shows us how to take what we get and get what we need: joy.

Lynne Griffin
I was surprised when this topic left me bewildered. It wasn't easy to come up with a person or group of people who inspire me. Certainly there's the parent I've been working with, who has two children with special needs; I admire her patience and fortitude. There's the gifted teacher I met fifteen years ago and will never forget; she knows just how to motivate each and every student who walks into her classroom. I thought about my own parents, grandparents, & friends. But I just couldn't come up with one person. It seems I draw my inspiration from ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The people who live the paradoxical commandments. People who, in the face of insurmountable challenges, persevere anyway.