Believe in Yourself

Life is not always a smooth, perfectly painted road, in which the blacktop seems to carry you along. It is full of cracks, potholes, speed bumps, and sometimes that pesky small animal that decides to cross at the wrong moment. The Mortenson family experienced this firsthand while living in Tanzania; they were different, they stood out from the crowd. Greg Morteson's father (nicknamed Dempsy) flourished on this difference, and was inspired to help out the community in every way he could. He learned their language, started dressing like them, and became apart of their culture. Seeing all the bedridden and ill people everywhere, Dempsy vowed to build a hospital for their community.
Traveling all over the world he gathered what donations he could. It took years of hard work, but finally after many years, the hospital was finally finished. When the day ultimately came to cut the ribbon at the grand opening, his son Greg watched faithfully as his father delivered his successful speech. Greg recalls this touching moment in his life, "...It happened. The place he built is still there today, the top teaching hospital in Tanzania, and a decade after he finished it, all the department heads were African. Watching him up there, I felt so proud that this big, barrel-chested man was my father. He taught me, he taught all of us. that if you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything."
This last sentence within this quote is one of my biggest beliefs in life. Too often do people just give up, throw up their arms, and storm out of the room. You should never walk away from life's curve balls, just pick up the bat and give 'em a swing! If you just believe in yourself, you can achieve even the hardest tasks in life. Sometimes I seem overwhelmed by all the papers I have to write for school even while trying to balance a full time job and my personal life all at the same time. But I just stick to it, and force time for everything in my busy life. Greg Morteson is a very good example of this quote also. He has enough physical, and even mental will to climb some of the tallest mountains in the world (something I would never even begin to do). Even while completely broke, and even unable to afford expensive fancy dinners for his girlfriend, Greg tries and tries to gather money to build the school. As the great band Journey once said; Greg doesn't stop believing.