The following article on Special Education Week in Anguilla was written by Mrs. Katherine Lavern Webster Brown as part of a series of activities.
Fellow Anguillians and Partners in Education, my name is Mrs. Katherine Lavern Webster Brown, Head of the Special Education Department of the A.L.H.C.S. As we sensitize you of our exceptional students with diverse needs and to empower them to maximize their full potential, the Special Education Needs Department at the A.L.H.C.S. has chosen the week of March 9th -15th 2013 to celebrate a week of activities. Included in these activities is an Exhibition to be held at O.K.P.S. on March 13th -15th from 9:00am -3:30pm. All are cordially invited to be there and support our students in a positive way. On 14th March at 8:30am, the Dove Centre in West End will be officially opened.
To highlight our students’ achievements the theme created and chosen for this occasion is, “Our challenges do not limit our abilities to achieve success”. What we put into our children’s hearts today influences their character for tomorrow.
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to? When you don’t know something, it is an opportunity to learn. Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character. Be thankful for mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons. Be thankful when you are tired and weary, because it means you’ve made an effort. It is easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. Gratitude can turn a negative situation into a positive one. Find a way to be thankful for your challenges and they can become your blessings. It’s not happiness that makes us grateful; gratefulness makes us happy. Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts. I see each of you succeeding greatly. Each of you is unique. When you were born, the genius of God exploded and made you a person the world has never seen before and will never see again. You were born to succeed. You have unlimited potential and desire to see yourself at the top. Failure is merely an opinion. From ashes of defeat come the greatest fires of accomplishment. Everyone faces challenges, but heroes simply get up, begin again and end up succeeding. Each of us has unlimited resources. It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.
Being decisive is essential for a successful life. If you deny yourself commitment, what will you do with your life? Every accomplishment, great or small, starts with a decision. David Ambrose remarked, “If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success, if you don’t, you have achieved half your failure.” Don’t leave a decision for tomorrow that needs to be done today. If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably does not lead anywhere. The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places. The success of each seemed to be in almost exact ratio to the extent of the obstacles and difficulties one had to surmount. In calm water, every ship has a good captain. Challenges, failures and disappointments put us under a great deal of pressure, but they also bring out strength, character, and endurance vital to high achievement. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it. Don’t allow your circumstances to discourage you. Expect success in the midst of challenge. I see you succeeding despite all odds.
There is no challenge around you that does not have a solution. Challenges are what make life interested; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. You can be anything you want to be; do anything you set out to accomplish, if you have that desire with a singleness of purpose. When Dr. Wayne Dyer, the author of ‘Your erroneous zones’, told his colleagues at university, long before it was published, that he was going to be a bestselling author, they laughed. To date he sold more than 58 million books. A few weeks after his failed attempt to climb Mount Everest, Edmund Hillary was asked to address a group of people. This is what he said,” Mount Everest you beat me the first time, but I’ll beat you the next time because you’ve grown all you want to grow, but I’m still growing.” He succeeded at his next attempt! He did not allow his challenges to limit his abilities to succeed. Life is a circle of varying events, fortunes and misfortunes. The sun shines after every storm. Behind the clouds, the sun’s still shining. No winter lasts forever. No spring skips its turn. One should keep going despite challenges, for there is always calm ahead. The challenge that seems to break you today will be a ripple among the waves of other experiences in the ocean of your life further ahead. No one has ever arisen from the knock-out blow of a challenge without being wiser and stronger from their experience.
Sometimes your biggest challenge can become your biggest strength. Take for example the story of a ten year old boy who decided to study Judo, despite the fact that he lost his left arm in a car accident. The boy began lessons with a Japanese judo master. He couldn’t understand, why after three months of training, the master only taught him one move. Several months later, the master took the boy to his first tournament. To his surprise, he won his first three matches. In the final match, his opponent was bigger, stronger and more experienced. By using his one move, the boy pinned his rival and won the tournament. He became the champion. On the way home, the boy summoned the courage and asked, “Master, how did I win the tournament with only one move?” “You won for two reasons.” the master answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult moves in judo and secondly, the only known defense for the move is your opponent to grab your left arm.” This little boy did not allow his challenge to limit his ability to be a champion.
Always display perseverance and endurance, you will reap a harvest. In the midst of life’s challenges, make a fresh start. No matter what choices you have made in the past, shake off those past mistakes and experience a fresh start. Remember challenges can be won if you make the effort and you have the right attitude. Hard work will help you to achieve your goals. Always believe you will succeed. Like grass you must learn to bend sometimes. Life can sometimes be uncomfortable or oppressive. Everybody faces obstacles sometimes. Nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself. Goals that are not challenging will soon bore you. Enough perseverance will help you get through tough times.
I wish to say at this time, ‘Happy Special Education Week to all students, parents and teachers’. Let us remember to set the standard for success by not letting your challenges limit your abilities… Thank you.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper)
