Dare to be Great ...

It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man
who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while
DARING GREATLY
so that his place shall never be
with those timid souls
who know neither victory or defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

The Road Not Taken

When I was a little girl, I often thought about the GREAT things that I wanted to do. For so long in my youth, I wanted to GET OUT of South Bend; I always thought that this place had nothing for me. I wanted to move into a BIG CITY somewhere, anywhere…anyplace but here…

However, as I’ve grown up, gotten married, finished college, and began my pursuit for these ‘GREAT’ things, the focus has somewhat shifted…the ‘GREAT’ has taken on a new form…I am reminded that sometimes, the little things are what matter most. Sure, being in the spotlight might be appealing to many, because really, we just want someone to notice; notice what we do and NOT take it for granted…but deep down, I think we all want to have made an impact on someone…to say someone else’s life is better because we took the time to LOVE them…

I believe that no matter where we're at...whether in a BIG CITY, in a small town, or in South Bend, LOVING someone is the key to being 'GREAT'...even when sometimes, you're the ONLY one who knows it...

The following is Robert Frost’s poem, ‘The Road Not Taken’; maybe you’ve read it, maybe not, but I must say, the words are poignant and give the sense that the ‘road less traveled’ does indeed, ‘make all the difference’! Believe in miracles...

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.