Inner Strength from Desperate Times


As his father slowly succumbed to ALS, student Jake Hovenden was impressed with how lovingly his stepmother cared for his dad. The experience left Hovenden with a belief in the power of inner strength.


This is weekend edition from NPR news, I'm Liane Hansen.

I believe in mystery.
I believe in family.
I believe in being who I am.
I believe in the power of failure.
And I believe normal life is extraordinary.
This I Believe.

Today This I Believe, the highly regarded series based on the famed broadcasts by Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s begins its 3rd season. We want to welcome the series to weekend edition where every other week you will hear essays from Americans from all walks of life, some famous, some not, but all with something to say. We also want to encourage you to send in your essays for consideration. The host and curator of the series Jay Allison joins us from member station WCAI in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Welcome to the show Jay.

It's great to be here, Liane.

Really nice to have you. I understand the first essay we are going to hear today is actually from a high school student. Do you get a lot of submissions from school kids?

We do. We've had about 28 thousand submissions in all today from every kind of person, all ages and professions and parts of the world. Of those over 8 thousand of them or about 30% are from kids under 18.

Wow, that's a really high percentage. Did these essays come from all over the country?

They do. Teachers from all 50 states and D. C. and more than 40 countries have downloaded the curriculum which we have at the website at NPR.org. And the project's been used in classrooms from elementary school all the way to graduate school, we've heard of it being used in English class, psychology, history, English as the second language, even art and band class. And we are pleased about that, but we feel like we should apologize to the students of the world for the extra work. And in fairness we find their teachers often feel compelled to write essays to, I, I brought a little collage from a trip we made to Eastern Boston High School last month where a class of 50 kids all wrote essays for the series.

I believe that having responsibility is not a joke.
I believe that being a teen mom is difficult.
I believe that words have power.
I believe that the choices you make now will affect your future.
I believe in living on the edge and taking chances.
I believe that people with mental disabilities are just like everybody else.
I believe mothers deserve the worlds.
And I believe that it's not your age that makes you knowledgeable, it's what you've been through what you learn from it.

Wow. Are there any themes particularly that actually come across regularly in these kids' essays?

Well, fittingly, when we recorded it up in East Boston, a lot of the essays were about mothers, they were in praise of mothers, or about the experience of being a mother or remembering the lessons that their mothers teach.

And we have one of those essays today which is appropriate, because it is Mothers' Day. It tells us a little bit about it.

It's an essay from a student some distance from East Boston. It's from Jake Hovenden. He's a junior at West Valley High School in Fairbanks, Alaska. His English class assigned This I Believe. And he actually turned in his essay late 'coz he was trying to write about a traumatic event in his family, but he couldn't figure out what belief he'd, derived from it. And then he realized that was right next to him. So, here's Jay Hovenden with his essay for This I Believe.

Only a handful of people know this about me, but five years ago my father died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. This is a fatal disease that literally eats away at a person's muscles until they cannot walk, talk or even breathe. It was a life-changing experience, but I can't really say that I developed any defining beliefs from it. Rather the whole thing just really confused me on what to believe. But this essay is not about my experience of my father's passing. It's about my stepmother.

I believe in inner strength. It was my stepmother, Janey Hovenden, who really had the hardest time when my father was suffering from ALS. For three years she juggled work, my dad and me, with virtually no breaks. But she never gave up. Every day, right after she got home from work, she would cook dinner for us. She'd have to feed my father because ALS made it. So, he was incapable of feeding himself. During the nights, my stepmother would stay up with my dad to make sure he wouldn't suffocate while he slept. She'd stay up and comfort him, even though she had to work early the next morning. Janey even fought past her fear of needles, in order to treat my dad at home because the last thing he wanted was to lie in a hospital bed during his final days.

My dad was a proud man and didn't want people to see him when he was wasting away. But Janey went against his wishes and invited old friends over to say their final goodbyes. Although he didn't want to admit it, my dad cherished every visit. I really hadn't appreciated what my stepmother had done before, but looking back, I realize how much she did for my dad. She kept him alive as long as she could, almost single-handedly.

Today, Janey is doing well and still taking care of me just as well as she took care of me and my dad when he was sick. Before my dad passed on, he told Janey that she would have to be my father figure. And though she isn't my dad, she is the next best thing. She jokes around with me about it. Even though I live mostly with my mom, I still look to see Janey once a week and she has helped me immensely in getting through this. And I think I help her, too. She says I remind her of Dad, and spending time with me, and cooking dinner for me helps her remember.

I believe that inner strength emerges when times are desperate. I believe people sometimes refuse to give up, and they help others no matter the personal cost. My stepmother proved that to me.

That was 17-year-old Jay Hovenden in Fairbanks Alaska. But Liane, we invite all comers to submit essays to the series, and at the website, eh, teachers can find a free curriculum guide. You can get it at NPR.org/thisibelieve, and click on For Educators. And of course, you don't have to be a student, you can just step up and do it voluntarily at the website NPR.org.

And once again, the essays will be heard here every other week. And Jay, I can tell you we're thrilled to have This I Believe as part of weekend edition. Thanks.

Oh, thank you Liane. We're really looking forward to it.

Support for This I Believe comes from prudential retirement.