When I was a girl, I had a thin book about Amelia Earhart. It was written and drawn like a comic book and it sat on the shelf alongside my books about U.S. Presidents and Catholic Saints. I read it dozens of times, marveling at her cropped hair and courage.
My family took many trips and always went by train or by car. But in the summer when I was twelve, two days after I got my very first period, I traveled alone and flew from North Dakota to Kentucky. I remember thinking about Amelia Earhart when my plane lifted above the clouds and took me to what had been a familiar home to her.
Every great woman I learned about as a girl made sacrifices for and dutifully served her family and community. Her selflessness was always celebrated and rewarded. It was Amelia who taught me that it is wonderful and important to be full of Self. She was different than those other women because she, first and foremost, served the passion that came from deep within her. She knew who she was and she had the confidence to create her own unique life path.
On that great flying day when I was a girl, I thought about my heroine Amelia Earhart. But thinking about her didn’t give me the courage to fly in an airplane. Thinking about Amelia gave me the courage to marvel at my twelve-year-old Self and ask, “Who are you?”
-Liz Morton
For more information, check out the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.
Tomorrow, check back to learn about a heroine who captured ordinary people in photographs.