What Inspires You? By Valerie Steimle

In the last few weeks my writer's group discussed an interesting topic: "What inspires you to write?" I thought I could take this idea a step further and ask my readers: "What inspires you in your life?" What inspires you to do better at your job every day? What inspires you to care for your family, friends or neighbors? What inspires you to save a person in harms way or send a note to a grieving friend? It is food for thought and I think what we experience in life will also inspire us to do better.

The entertainment world has a great influence over us because we like to be entertained. We like to watch movies and TV and what we watch in the entertainment world does have an influence in our lives to be better. I think that is why the media is so important to us. It can sway us in one way or another. That is one big reason I always promote entertainment that is uplifting and inspirational and not the "true to life" violence which is the brutal part of life. This only makes us callous and indifferent to watching violence and our society will become heartless and unfeeling.

Those who have been following the presidential race are inspired to make a decision on which person would best fill the job. Watching those two men find that lion after it lived in the wilderness for so long fascinated everyone. It was inspiring for me and very heartwarming that two humans could be recognized by an animal after living in the wild for that long of time. Reading about people being saved from death or others accomplishing a great feat against all odds inspire me to keep trying.

An event that I look forward to every four years besides the presidential election is the summer Olympics. This year the Olympics are in Beijing, China and the opening ceremonies are on August 8th. You have to wonder what inspires a person to compete in sports so much that they are able to travel to a place on their own expense and push themselves to win competition after competition until they achieve the top of their event. It is amazing to me all the hours these athletes spend practicing to become perfect. It is truly inspiring and causes me to think about how I can improve myself in my own life. The discipline it takes to follow through on such a great goal makes us all seem insignificant but we should remember that we could do the same in our lives. The day to day routine we have compares with the daily schedule of an athlete. What inspires us to keep going and do better in our life could be the same drive or determination in what these athletes have to get to the Olympics.

Some people have to struggle every day to survive just as athletes train everyday to keep abreast of their sport. Others have great trials thrown at them in their life to overcome but the outcome is great because they did not give up.

Whatever it is that inspires us we need to keep doing it. So the next time you feel like being mediocre and not willing to try, find someone or something to inspire you to do better. It will make all the difference in the world.