Difficulties make us stronger people. Life was not easy for those who were prominent in history. Martin Luther King was a Baptist Minister and a great leader of the American Civil Rights Union. He was a peacemaker, campaigning for racial equality and did not condone violence. He had to struggle for equality, for human rights that were held back unlawfully. Because of his efforts, King received the Nobel Peace Prize and after his death was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “I have a dream…” was one of the greatest speeches in American history. Another great leader who believed in equality was George Washington. He had to fight for liberty, leading a group of men who knew nothing about war and fighting. For eight long years, he valiantly led the patriots through many hardships and tragedies before he became the first president of the United States.

Helen Keller was a deaf-blind American author, activist, suffragist, and lecturer. She graduated from Radcliffe College magna cum laude, the first deaf-blind person to graduate. She eventually became a world-famous speaker. She had everything against her from birth, but she fought to come out of her quiet and lonely world. She succeeded.

The poem of the struggling tree continues on, teaching us a valuable lesson, one that gives us wisdom through struggles.

Good Timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger the wind the stronger the trees.

The further sky, the greater length,

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold council with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife:

This is the common Law of Life. – anonymous