Heroes for My Daughter Read online

  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.

  Remember, if you ever 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.

  —AUDREY HEPBURN

  Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her—she was like the Pied Piper.

  —JOHN ISAAC, chief of the UN Photo Unit

  UNSTOPPABLE

  HELEN KELLER

  Deaf. Blind. Limitless.

  Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree. She would not be the last. Today, thousands of deaf and blind students enroll in universities—thanks to her work revolutionizing the education system and treatment of the blind, deaf, and mute.

  When Helen was nineteen months old, an illness left her blind and deaf.

  She didn’t know how to read. Or even speak.

  She hadn’t yet learned language.

  Now she was sealed in a black, silent place.

  They said she’d never achieve anything.

  But her teacher—Anne Sullivan—had faith in her.

  Which inspired Helen to have faith in herself.

  In the beginning, she had a few self-made signs.

  Pushing meant “go.” Pulling meant “come.”

  Anne taught her far more by finger-writing words into the palm of Helen’s hand, which is how Helen learned language.

  But when Helen felt the movements of Anne’s mouth, she realized how most people communicated.

  Immediately, Helen spelled, “I want to talk with my mouth.”

  Even her teacher was skeptical about teaching her.

  It would’ve been so easy to let Helen keep signing, to let Anne be her voice …

  But Anne had taught Helen too well. Now Helen wouldn’t accept easy.

  To feel the vibrations of each word, Helen put her thumb on Anne’s throat,

  her pointer finger on Anne’s lips,

  and her middle finger on Anne’s nose.

  At her seventh lesson, she spoke this sentence, word for word:

  “I am not dumb now.”

  Oh, and that girl who they said would never achieve anything? She didn’t just learn to speak English. She also became proficient in French and German.

  And wrote twelve books.

  And graduated from Radcliffe College at Harvard University.

  Cum laude.

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

  —HELEN KELLER

  SUPERHERO

  CHRISTOPHER REEVE

  Actor. Activist for spinal cord research.

  He was famous for playing Superman, but what made Christopher Reeve beloved happened after he was paralyzed in a riding accident. He spent the rest of his life as an advocate for spinal cord research and treatment.

  Thrown from a horse, with his hands caught in the bridle, he landed headfirst.

  In the hospital, as he lay there with his neck shattered, he told his wife, Dana, “Maybe we should let me go.”

  Without hesitation, Dana told him, “I’ll be with you for the long haul, no matter what.”

  She then added the words that saved his life: “You’re still you. And I love you.”

  The progress he made personally was nothing short of amazing, but what he did for others?

  That was the miracle.

  Despite his speech being slow and staccato,

  despite his mobility being limited to a wheelchair controlled by a straw,

  despite his independence being gone,

  Christopher Reeve refused to stay down.

  He lobbied Congress, fought for new research,

  and even appeared on Sesame Street with Big Bird to explain how his wheelchair worked.

  Despite what the doctors predicted, he was able to eventually move some of his fingers and regain sensation over much of his body.

  People thought Christopher Reeve was Superman. He wasn’t.

  But he was Clark Kent.

  Normal, vulnerable, and built just as fragile as the rest of us.

  Thankfully, he never let that stop him.

  When the first Superman movie came out, I was frequently asked, ‘What is a hero?’ My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences.... Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them.

  —CHRISTOPHER REEVE

  COMEDIAN

  CAROL BURNETT

  Actor. Funny lady. Woman of her word.

  As the star and creator of The Carol Burnett Show, she was one of the funniest and most successful comedians in show business. Her show lasted eleven years, captured twenty-five Emmys, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Best TV shows of All Time.

  After her father abandoned her and her mother’s alcoholism became debilitating, Carol was raised by her grandmother in California. She grew up in poverty.

  When she wanted to be an actress, she didn’t have the money to go to New York.

  That’s when a secret benefactor came forward, willing to give her a thousand dollars to pursue her dream. The money came with three stipulations:

  1. She could never reveal the donor’s identity;

  2. She had to repay the loan in five years; and

  3. She had to help other young entertainers attain their dreams.

  After working as a hat-check girl, Carol Burnett eventually found success and paid the loan back … five years to the day.

  Then she set up an award to be given every year to a theater student at Emerson College.

  She could’ve stopped there.

  Instead, she set up another award for theater students at UCLA.

  Then she got a fan letter from a high school student, who wrote of her own dreams of working in show business.

  Carol Burnett called the girl’s house, went to see her perform at a local event, and eventually gave young Vicki Lawrence a starring role on her blockbuster TV show.

  It’s one thing to never forget where you came from.

  But it’s just as important to never forget who got you where you are today.

  I’ve been helped by acts of kindness from strangers. That’s why we’re here, after all, to help others.

  —CAROL BURNETT

  Carol Burnett famously ended each show by tugging her ear, which was a secret greeting to the grandmother who raised her—the woman Carol forever loved.

  DAREDEVIL

  AMELIA EARHART

  Record breaker. High-flying pilot.

  A pioneer in aviation and the first female to cross the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart broke many flight records. She died while trying to become the first person to fly around the world at the equator. Her plane has still never been found.

  She worked as a truck driver, stenographer, and photographer. Just to save enough for the flying lessons.

  Six months after she learned to fly, she put away enough for a bright yellow, used biplane called Canary.

  The following year, she broke her first record, reaching an altitude of fourteen thousand feet, the highest recorded at that time by a woman.

  She wasn’t a natural. She wasn’t the best pilot.

  She had to work at it.

  But within her short lifetime she showed the world that the greatest flight we’ll ever take is the one no one has tried before.

  Please know I am quite aware of the hazards.... I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do thin
gs as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others.

  —AMELIA EARHART

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

  —AMELIA EARHART

  DREAMER

  ALEX SCOTT

  Founder of Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

  Eight-year-old Alex Scott opened what is arguably the most successful lemonade stand in history.

  She was diagnosed with cancer before her first birthday.

  It became the only life she knew: Sickness. Chemotherapy. Surgery.

  When she was four, Alex asked to put a lemonade stand in her front yard.

  It was her idea. Not her parents’. Hers.

  She didn’t do it to buy a new doll, or even pay hospital bills.

  She told her parents she wanted to give the money to the doctors so they could find a cure for all the other children diagnosed with pediatric cancer.

  Again, her idea.

  In a single day, “Alex’s Lemonade Stand” raised two thousand dollars.

  Soon other stands began popping up—all with Alex’s name on them.

  Every year, Alex went back into the summer sun to sell her lemonade. And so did the others. Eventually, they raised two hundred thousand dollars.

  For Alex, it wasn’t enough. She had a new goal: one million dollars.

  On June 12, 2004, hundreds of lemonade stands opened in every state across the country—ordinary people selling water, sugar, and lemons to raise money for kids with cancer.

  Nearly two months later, Alex passed away while her parents held her hands. She was eight.

  Make no mistake: the one-million-dollar goal was surpassed.

  And before she died, Alex said the next year’s goal should be five million.

  Today, her dream has raised over $45 million. And it’s still going.

  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

  REVOLUTIONARY

  ABIGAIL ADAMS

  Wife. Mother. Patriot.

  The wife of President John Adams and the mother of President John Quincy Adams, Abigail Adams was as outspoken as either of them in the new America she helped shape.

  In April 1775, the shots were fired at Lexington and Concord—shots that started the American Revolution.

  Within a month, with her husband away in the capital to help a struggling government, Abigail Adams turned her house into a sanctuary for colonial soldiers.

  Her kitchen floor held all those who needed rest.

  Her barn and attic became bedrooms for militiamen.

  Her fireplace was used to melt spoons into ammunition.

  All the while, she relayed the news to the person she called, “My Dearest Friend,” reaffirming John Adams’s belief that the American colonists had to fight for their liberty.

  As the war went on, Abigail argued for women’s rights and slaves’ rights, and she did it at a time when, under English law, married women had no legal identity separate from their husbands.

  In the letters she wrote to John Adams, and in her fight for equal rights,

  Abigail Adams made some of the boldest statements of her time.

  So when history books talk about the Founding Fathers,

  let’s not forget there were also Founding Mothers.

  If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women.

  —ABIGAIL ADAMS

  WITNESS

  ANNE FRANK

  Author of The Diary of a Young Girl.

  Forced to hide in an annex by the Nazi regime, teenager Anne Frank wrote her deepest thoughts in a simple diary. After Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp, her father published her diary and showed the world just how powerful a child’s voice can be.

  The rules changed slowly in Amsterdam.

  First, her family’s doors had to be locked by 8 p.m.

  Then the police made her turn in her bicycle.

  Yet even when she was forced to leave her school,

  when her father was no longer allowed to drive,

  when her mother could only buy groceries from stores marked “Jewish Shop,”

  when her sister was ordered to report to a concentration camp,

  Anne Frank still believed that people were good.

  For two years and one month during World War II, as the frank family hid in the annex that was tucked behind a bookcase,

  as she scribbled in that tiny book with the red-checked cover,

  Anne Frank never gave up on humankind.

  As a result, she gave the world the very best reason to never forget.

  Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

  —ANNE FRANK

  DEN MOTHER

  DOROTHY DAY

  Advocate for the poor and homeless.

  After working with the poor during the Great Depression, Dorothy Day helped found the Catholic Worker movement, which led to the creation of hospitality houses and farming communes that are now all over the world. (© Bob Fitch Photo)

  It started when she published a small newspaper about being hospitable to the homeless.

  Soon after, there was a knock on Dorothy’s door—from a homeless woman seeking shelter.

  To Dorothy it wasn’t even a question. This was her mission.

  She rented an apartment space for ten women, then another for men.

  It grew in size, serving hundreds in New York.

  Then her House of Hospitality spread across the country—thirty-three shelters that housed and fed the homeless, and asked nothing in return.

  That was the one rule: Everyone—of every religion—was accepted.

  Eventually, Mother Teresa came to visit her to pin a cross on Dorothy.

  The Catholic Church has even recognized her as “a Servant of God”—the first step in officially making her a saint.

  But of all her accomplishments, what mattered most was how she dealt with that first knock on the door.

  In life, you will be faced with problems.

  What counts is whether you turn away or tackle them.

  The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?

  —DOROTHY DAY

  TRUTH TELLER

  JUDY BLUME

  Bestselling author. Beloved storyteller.

  In books like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume trailblazed a new genre of books for young adults. Though critics have tried to censor her, her work has sold more than 80 million copies, in thirty-one languages.

  They’re called novels for a reason: they’re supposed to carry with them something original, something new.

  Some novels teach. Some entertain. Some comfort.

  The best ones introduce ideas.

  For more than four decades, Judy Blume has done just that, giving kids honest answers about their most complex questions—bras, sex, menstruation, puberty—and never talking down to them.

  But at the end of the day, her most vital message is the one lesson all of us need to hear—at every age:

  Whatever your quirks or idiosyncrasies, it is always okay to be exactly who you are.

  Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret. I just told my mother I want a bra. Please help me grow God. You know where. I want to be like everyone else.

  —JUDY BLUME, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

  ADVENTURER

  SACAJAWEA

  Explorer. Team member.

  When explorers Lewis and Clark traversed the uncharted American West, the only woman on the five-thousand-mile journey was a Shoshone Indian named Sacajawea. She was only seventeen.

  She was a pregnant teenager when her “husband” joined Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery.

  But on this rough adventure,

  where they’d face grizzly bears,

  and eat c
andles to avoid starvation,

  and nearly die from hail and flash flooding …

  What good would it be for the expedition’s leaders to have a teenage girl nursing a baby?

  The question was answered almost immediately when, during a sudden storm, her husband lost control of the boat.

  As the vessel nearly flipped, and the men panicked and fought, the supplies floated away.

  Let me repeat that.

  In the middle of the unknown wilderness, Lewis and Clark’s supplies—which could not be replaced and were needed for them all to survive—were about to be lost.

  But with her infant son strapped to her back, Sacajawea kept her cool.

  Calmly balancing herself in the nearly capsized boat, she alone grabbed the items as they floated by.

  It was this girl, this young girl, surrounded by soldiers and frontiersmen, who saved them all.

  She didn’t wait for someone to come to the rescue.

  She came to the rescue.

  Because of her resolve, when the men on the expedition later voted on where to camp the following winter, Sacajawea—the former hostage and slave—had a vote of equal value.

  CONSERVATIONIST

  THEODORE ROOSEVELT

  Rough Rider. Trustbuster. President.

  As the youngest U.S. President in history, Theodore Roosevelt was well-known for his audacious style. He is the only person who has won both the Medal of Honor, which he won for war, and the Nobel Peace Prize.

  It’s called chutzpah.

  You’ve seen it in our family: When someone acts with so much audacity, it almost seems ridiculous.

  Teddy Roosevelt had chutzpah.

  As President, he adopted the motto “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” wielding that stick at injustices he saw.

  As a trustbuster, he dismantled some of America’s richest companies, refusing to let their dominance take advantage of others.