I came across this quote taken from the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun”, and it inspired me.
‘Between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew someday, the train would come’.
The quote in the movie was intended to be a word of encouragement spoken to a woman who bought a larger, older home in Tuscan and later felt unsure why she had made that decision in the first place. The Semmering Railway mentioned in the quote was first envisioned by the genius of engineer Carl Ritter von Ghega, who started thinking about building this railway in 1842, before any train at that time could possibly traverse such a steep grade.
The Semmering railway was later built over 41 km of high mountains between 1848 and 1854. It was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1998 in recognition of its great feats of civil engineering and railway building, and the spectacular mountain landscape that the railway runs through.
What I like about the story of Carl Ritter von Ghega was that he had a vision and a passion to act “as if” the train could climb the steep traverse slope even though the train has not been invented yet.
As I start the year 2018, I reflect on how Believe In Your Child Foundation started from its humble beginnings two and a half years ago – first doing the website and providing article resources on social and emotional health, life skills and character development, and then building a Kids Studio/Education Centre that we conduct programs for Home Learners, after school, spring break and summer camps. We will continue to offer resources and programs that benefit families and children. But we also believe that we haven’t fully realized the potential of what this organization could become. Like the story above, we see ourselves building the ‘track’ and we are sure one day there will be a ‘train’ that will carry more offerings of resources and programs to benefit an even larger community. We are grateful for the encouragements that we have received from friends and the community. The passion for what we do is always rekindled whenever we meet others who share a vision and passion for their own calling.
Regardless of whether we are a homemaker, a parent or grandparent looking after children or grandchildren, a career or business person, or even a retired person, it is good to keep the flame of our vision and passion alive, because it gives meaning and purpose to what we live for.
Happy New Year 2018!