Be different.
Being different is important, especially in the world today; be who you are. If you're not careful you'll lose yourself in the turmoil out there. Seriously, it's a fast moving, ever changing, scary world we live in.
Morals changing, illness spreading, fear growing. It's all around us.
And we have to push back. We have to fight the current like salmon.
Salmon are fish that are hatched, swim to ocean and then return to their birthplace to reproduce. Some salmon on their way back home, swim hundreds of miles against the current to reach their destination.
Wouldn't it be easier if these salmon just let the current take them to another spot? Probably. But they don't. I don't why they do what they do, they just do. They have a goal and they give it their all, even if it means their life.
In 1923 at a track meet between England, Ireland and Scotland, during a 400 meter (437.445) dash, Eric Liddell made his famous run.
Just moments after the pistol went off and the runners took off, Eric was knocked to the ground. "Well, there his chance of winning," Everyone thought.
But they were wrong.
Eric got back up and ran like he was a bullet shot from a gun. He surpassed all the other runners and just barely won the race.
Imagine, it would have been so much easier for Eric to just sit there and say, "You know, you win some and you lose some." But he didn't. He got up and he ran. He was determined to finish the race. And he did.
Ever hear about Kate Shelly? She was a young women of 15 who, one stormy night after a pusher crashed into Honey Creek Bridge, crawled across the Des Moines River bridge to alert the train station so the midnight train wouldn't crash.
The midnight train had been delayed due to the storm but Kate didn't go in vain. After she delivered her message, she lead a rescue party to help the four man crew of the pusher. Unfortunately, only two of the four men survived. One climbed hand over hand on a rope from where he was tangled in a fallen tree. Another wasn't able to be rescued until the water level dropped. One drowned and the other wasn't found.
Due to Kate's exposure in the storm, she was bedridden for three months.
And just think, she could have just stayed home, safe and warm. Someone else could have gone, someone older. But Kate felt it was her duty and she completed her task. Although the midnight train had been delayed, she saved the lives of two men. And I'm pretty sure those men appreciated it.
All these people; they didn't sit back and watch, they saw and did. They stood up, stood out and broke the mold. They did what most others wouldn't. And they were just ordinary people like you. Salmon are just fish. Eric Liddell was just a missionary and an amazing runner. Kate Shelly was only 15.
But all three did/do amazing things.
To break the mold is to do something differently. To stand up and out. To do hard things. To let your light shine to those around you. To keep going when times are tough. To endure.
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You should read more about Eric and Kate; they're pretty cool people! (You can learn about salmon too if you want)
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