What makes some people ferocious?Determined in their path,

Full of pluck and vigor?

I remember stories of people that awed me, thrilled me

Left me questing for my own form of personal success

Dauntless and full of courage

Growing up, I heard tales Valour road in Winnipeg,

Renamed after the Great War from unassuming Pine street,

 because of the exploits of three young men, 

each earning the Victoria cross for bravery.

I wept when I heard the story for the first time, 

amazed they had overcome the fear they surely felt

Others who kept on moving,

against all odds, 

no matter the cost.

People who radiate hero from their very being,

Katherine Dexter McCormick,

Smuggling diaphragms from Switzerland into America,

so that women had a choice 

Or Malala Yousafzai, who stood up for her right, and those of other girls, 

to attend school.

The women who came before me, like Elizabeth Blackwell, 

proving that women were capable to attend and excel in medical school. 

The reason I am where I am today.

I look at examples of so many of the people who have moved the world ahead, 

and I bow down in respect.

We must learn from our past to advance our future. 

I look at the stories of those with grit, fortitude 

and the audacity to keep going,

And choose to model my behaviour accordingly,

One challenge at a time