Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Amelia, Role Model


Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.
Amelia Earhart was born July 24, 1897, and thus began the life of a woman adventurer.

Like many young girls, she was uncertain of her future after high school. She volunteered as a nurse, attended a semester of pre-med classes, took flying lessons, then worked as a social worker with children.

But wait. In 1922. she set the women's flying altitude record -- 14,000 feet. She had found her passion.

Flying was her passion. She did it because she wanted to do it. Since her first solo in 1921, she made a habit of being the first and being the best. She flew the fastest; she flew the highest; she flew the furthest. See her list of accomplishments and awards.

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.

In 1937, Amelia Earhart began a flight around the world, a flight that would be her last adventure. Her Lockheed twin-engine, her navigator Fred Noonan, and Amelia disappeared July 2, but this is not the end of her story.


The Navy and Coast Guard searched, but were unable to recover any evidence of the flight. The Naval Historcial Center published this story. and provides links to FBI declassified documents. Hers is certainly one of the most notorious mysteries in aviation history, spawning numerous theories, from spying to alien abduction.

We may never know what really happened, but we do know she was a role model for generations beyond her life. She speaks to us still.
The most effective way to do it, is to do it.
Happy Birthday, Amelia.

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