Among the young

I was invited to speak as part of a panel discussion for Women's History Month at a high school on March 10.

There were 10 women on the panel: two aldermen, a television news reporter, an editor, educators, a banker, a police officer, a reality television star and me. Age ranges? I would guess 35 to 65.

Our audience ranged in age from about 15 to 18. 

Me, 18

We were asked to name a personal female hero.

I went first, remembering that my friend, Kristen Ziman, was a member of the panel the year before.

"Does anyone remember Commander Ziman from last year?" I asked. A good number of hands went up. "Do you know what she is doing now? She is the police chief of the second largest city in Illinois! She is my hero not only because of how hard she worked to become the first female chief of our city, but because of her beauty -- inside and out -- and her compassion.

Kristen Ziman

Pretty good answer, I thought.

But the three or four women who answered after me all said their personal hero was their mother. 

I thought of my own mom. I gave her a card, once, that said she was my hero. She had been fighting cancer at least 15 years by then. I saw her as the strongest person in the world, and I wanted to be that strong.

She didn't come to my mind first during the panel discussion, because she died 22 years ago. Since then, there have been many strong women in my life. 

But one thing that made her heroic to me was she told me if i did my best, it would be good enough. It made some of my failures easier to accept. It made me seek help when my first college physics class was about to do me in. It's what gave me the strength to make hard decisions. I think some young women go through life never feeling good enough. Hey, we're not all math whizzes or tall, lanky beauties. Not our fault! But if we are the best we can be, it's enough.

Right, mom?

Edith Virginia Austin Fischer