Goal Getters: Tenley Albright

When you are interested in things, have the curiosity, and are motivated to make a difference, you can. Who knows where it will take you? It’s been exciting for me to find where my interests take me and are still taking me. It’s been astounding to see people coming together and having a chance to talk about common visions and daring to dream.

No one has ever escaped hard knocks. No one likes to call them failures, maybe they say there are things that don’t go quite the way they expected. Every one of you with your dreams can expect to have the highs and the lows.

Figure skating is a good example. When you “wipe out” and go flat on your face sliding across the ice, there is only one thing to do, and that is get up and try it again.  PE

	Goal Getters: Jonas Salk

You never have an idea of what you might accomplish. All that you do is pursue a question and see where it leads. A question occurred to me in my second year at medical school. We were told in one lecture that it was possible to immunize against diphtheria and tetanus by the use of chemically treated toxins, or toxoids. And the following lecture, we were told that for immunization against a virus disease, you have to experience the infection, and that you could not induce immunity with the so-called “killed” or inactivated, chemically treated virus preparation. Well, somehow, that struck me. What struck me was that both statements couldn’t be true. And I asked why this was so, and there was no satisfactory answer. It didn’t make sense, and that question persisted in my mind.

I had an opportunity to spend time in elective periods in my last year in medical school, in a laboratory, involved in studies on influenza. I saw the opportunity at that time to test the question as to whether we could destroy the virus infectivity and still immunize. And so, by carefully designed experiments, we found it was possible to do so.  PE

	Goal Getters: John Hume

My father was unemployed, and we suffered a lot from discrimination. But a new education system was introduced in Northern Ireland. I passed the examination and got a scholarship to go to secondary school; otherwise I would never have been educated.

When I come home from university, I felt a duty to help those who weren’t as lucky as I was. I got involved in starting the Credit Union movement, which has done much good for the people. We managed to restore local parliamentary institutions, so that we have a working administration.

I never thought of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people. Having grown up as I grew up, I felt that I should do anything I could to help people—putting into practice normal attitudes to life. I think most human beings would help other people if they were able to do so.  PE

	Goal Getters: Amy Tan

When I was younger, I thought achievement had to do with gaining approval from other people. But I’ve learned that it’s really a sense of oneself. It’s never a feeling of self-satisfaction. People who achieve are those who say, “I don’t deserve this.” They did exactly what they loved to do, not seeking approval, not trying to follow the ordinary way of doing things, the expected or accepted way—and ended up being quite helpful to other people. They know how to ruffle the system and make better things happen, not for self-importance, but for larger reasons.

It’s important to give others a sense of hope that it is possible, and you can find your own unique place in the world.  PE

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