Heroes for Your Daughter…and You too

When Brad Meltzer held his daughter in his arms for the first time he says he felt that his ‘heart doubled in size’. From then on, like every protective dad he had lots of things in his mind to pass on to little Lila Boo. In fact, he had so much to tell that he ended up writing a book on ‘inspirations for his daughter’. The book, Heroes forMy Daughter’ went on to become a New York Times Bestseller.

Here are just some of the heroes that Meltzer picked up for his daughter. I hope you too, like me, find inspiration from them.

1.Marie Curie — for unwavering dedication to work

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

The double Nobel laureate once famously said that one never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. Curiously, for most of us, the opposite is true — we are always keeping account of what we have done, what we have gone through and the price that we paid !

Even while suffering from cancer that resulted from her work with radioactive substances Marie Curie chose not to rest on her laurels but to look at what was still to be done. Amazing woman!

2.Audrey Hepburn: Beauty is not skin deep

Remember, if you need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand; the first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.

If you have ever once watched Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s you will have trouble reconciling one of the most beautiful faces hollywood has ever seen with a childhood spent in near starvation. Audrey Hepburn overcame all that but what makes her a special hero is her reaching out to the world. In Meltzer’s own words:

She (Audrey) didn’t have to do anything. But that’s when she reached out to UNICEF. They didn’t find her. She found them.

She made numerous visits to troubled regions all over the world — from Bangladesh to Somalia, to meet with children as UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador. More importantly, she did it because she wanted to. Audrey, it is said, didn’t have any problem hugging poor kids who had flies all over them. In short, she really cared. Meltzer sums up Audrey’s greatest legacy rather eloquently:

Yes, the hunger that’s in your belly can destroy you, but the hunger that’s in your soul -the hunger that drives you- if you use it to help others, it can be your greatest source of power.

3.Helen Keller — for optimism and it’s power to make things happen.

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.

We all know that Helen Keller was both blind and deaf. What many of us don't know are the details of how she overcame the greatest of odds and the most debilitating limitations to teach herself to ’speak’. The young Helen learned to distinguish the vibrations produced by each word by putting her thumb on her teacher’s throat, her pointer finger on lips and middle finger on the nose. At the seventh lesson, Helen Keller declared: “ I am not dumb now”!

4.Carol Burnett — for never forgetting the past and the people help one achieve their dreams.

‘It is one thing to never forget where you came from. But it is just as important to never forget who got you where you are today.

Although regarded as one of the most successful comedians ever, there was nothing funny about Carol Burnett’s childhood.Carol was raised by her grandmother after her father abandoned her and her mother slipped into debilitating alcoholism. Young Carol always wanted to be an actress but didn't have the money to pursue her dream. It was then that a secret benefactor turned up and offered her a thousand dollars. The money came with three conditions though: 1. She was not to reveal her donor’s identity by any means. 2. The money was to be treated as a loan, to be repaid in full in five years.

In many ways, it was the third condition that shaped Carol’s life: She was required by the secret benefactor to help other young struggling entertainers to reach for their own dreams.

It took CaroL Burnett five years to repay the money. She then set out fulfilling the third condition — at first she set up an award to be given to a promising theatre student at Emerson college. She could have stopped there but she went on an on in as many ways as she could -.by setting up another award at UCLA also directly helping many a talented youngster achieve their dreams.

5.Amelia Earhart — for never giving up even on the seemingly impossible.

Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.

Amelia Earhart lived only 39 years. In her life as well as in death she remained an enigma — the first woman to cross the Atlantic, she went missing while attempting to achieve yet another daunting target — fly around the world at equator. Brad beautifully sums up Amelia Earhart’s life thus:

Within her short life time she showed the world that the greatest flight we'll ever take is the one no one has tried before.

For Amelia, there was nothing worth branding as impossible; no danger great enough to stop doing what one wants to do. She once famously said :

Please know I am quite aware of the hazards….I want to do it because I want to do it.”

Simple!

6.Alexandra Scott: One idea. One girl. one big dream.

‘Oh we can do it. If other people will help me, i think we can do it. I know we can do it’

Alex Scott had a lifespan that would make Amelia Earhart’s look like a century — she lived only 8 years. Born on January 18, 1996, Alexandra Scott was diagnosed with neuroblastoma ( a type of childhood cancer) before her first birthday. Doctors informed her parents with regret that even if young Alex manages to beat cancer it was doubtful she would walk again. But just two week later Alex moved her leg and by her second birthday she was crawling and standing up with help of braces. Make no mistake, Alex was a fighter.

In 2000, a day after she received a stem cell transplant Alex told her mother “”when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand.” Alex wanted to raise money to help the doctors help other kids like her!

During the summer of 2000, with the help of her older brother, Alex managed to raise 2000 dollars for ‘her hospital’. The news of this amazing act by a determined kid spread far and wide so much so that by the time Alex passed away in 2004 ‘Alex’s lemonade stands’ were able to raise 1 million dollars. Today ‘Alex’s lemonade foundation’ has raised over 45 million dollars and is still going on!

7.Leonardo Da Vinci — For the power of dreaming big and daring

Remember it always: Be daring. Be daring. Always be daring. There is no big dream unless you dream big.

Time and again we hear about people who were ahead of their times. Leonardo Da Vinci was that and much more — he was ahead of his time not by decades or even a couple of centuries, he was ahead by at least five hundred years!. The tank, the submarine, the helicopter and many more…he dreamed all them up hundreds of years before they became reality. If you haven't bought a book for your daughter lately don’t even think twice about gifting it to her this Christmas. When they have doubts, there is strength inside. When they are ready to give up, there is motivation inside. And when they have questions, there are answers inside.