I heard something earlier this week about Sally Ride. “You can’t be what you can’t see.” The idea was that if you don’t have examples of people who look like you are doing things that you dream of doing, then you won’t think you can do them. The news show was saying that thanks to Sally Ride being an example, now other women and girls will know that they can make their dreams come true of working in science. I don’t think that’s true. Sally Ride didn’t have an example to show her that she could be the first female astronaut, yet she became what she couldn’t see. We shape our own reality, and we make the world exactly the way we believe it can be.
I had an experience today that proved that very idea to me. I went to get my yearly mammogram today. As I was sitting in the waiting room for the technician to come get me, there was another woman waiting as well. I had the feeling she was feeling awkward and nervous. So, I started to talk to her, and we had a really good conversation. She really opened up and told me a lot about herself. I really enjoyed talking with her. All my life, I have been told that I am shy and introverted. I was told that I wasn’t good at talking with other people and reading them. Yet, today I think I could tell how this woman was feeling very well. I think I knew how to talk to her and more importantly I knew how to listen. My mother spent a lifetime telling me that I wasn’t something and I believed her. After all, she was my mother, and she was supposed to know me better than anyone else. Now that she’s gone, I realize that I can be the person that I believe myself to be. I can be anything I want to be. I don’t have to see an example to be that person. I just have to believe in myself enough and know that I can be. And I think that is a lesson of faith. It isn’t just about faith in God. It’s also about faith in myself. I believe in God’s power and His plan, but that also means that I have to believe that He created me with purpose and with love. I have to find a way to believe in me and share that love with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
