Monday, December 27, 2010

Inspiration is Closer Than You Think

By Isabel Huston, corps member serving on the CSX Team at Turner Elementary


Alice Carter Huston is a fiercely strong, passionate, driven and dedicated woman. Among the many hats she has worn are teacher, single mother, entrepreneur, personal trainer, and town council woman. She is a person who deserves the utmost love and respect. But in my teenage years she was just my mother: a person who I took for granted only until she told me I couldn’t do something; in which case I just didn’t like her very much.
Isabel Huston and Her Mom

My mother is very strongly opinionated, and also very invested in all that she loves.
 So around the time that I was headed to High School she became frustrated with the way that our small New Jersey town was being managed. Not content to sit around and complain,she decided to run for the Hopewell Borough Council.
My mother sat on the Borough Council for two terms. In that time she helped secure 300 acres of undeveloped land as dedicated open space (land that cannot be developed) and revamped Hopewell’s Recreation Department; creating programs that offered our community opportunities to come together and become closer. To paraphrase the Americorps pledge, she gets things done.

   Without even realizing it, I grew up with an incredibly strong role model who is dedicated to civil service and taking action.

Now in my twenties, I am old enough to appreciate the subtle and unconscious inspiration that comes from consistent and unconditional love. I have always aspired to have the strength to do the right thing and leave a legacy of positive change. It is this aspiration that ultimately led me to apply for City Year.

That and a million panicked phone calls with my mother who, steadfastly encouraged me to keep it simple and follow my heart. Now I know that that all the inspiration I needed to join City Year DC came from the person who has sat across from me at the dinner table all of my life.



Inspiration is always closer than you think. Who inspires you?




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