The courage of this young solicitor, to speak frankly and often and to encourage young girls to take risks because she is the embodiment of failure and survival, was quite moving. Everywhere I spoke, I discussed encouragement and the courage embodied in that word, but I hadn’t realized how failure lives so close to the surface in our boldest and smartest girls. Their schools, their privilege, and their families prepare them for success. But their resilience has not been tested—they may avoid taking the hardest courses, they may not persist through adversity, and they may not be pushed to prove they can fail, survive, and even thrive.
The last of my twenty-one presentations—to hundreds of girls, faculty, and parents throughout Australia—was to a group of staff and parents at Our Lady of Mercy College (a high school) in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. I spoke to them of risk, fear, and failure, thanks in large part to what I learned in Brisbane and backed up by the young solicitor’s speech. If I had it to do over again, I would speak of this everywhere, and first.
I have learned so much from the girls of Australia, not the least of which is that The White House Project’s message and mission are the right ones in this world. It spoke to them deeply, as it has to young women in America. Females, young and old, foreign or domestic, are truly trying to live by the old English definition of courage: “To speak your mind by telling all your heart.” If we listen, we will get all the encouragement we need.
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