Writing Prompt 53: Who inspires you?

So many people inspire me.
My Dad. My close friends and family, and many famous or well known people throughout history and up to modern day.

Here's my current list of them in no particular order:

The entire team behind the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, especially Bernie Su, Hank Green, Jenni Powell, Margaret Dunlap, Rachel Kiley, Kate Rorick and Jay Bushman
Ashley Clemments (Actress who played Lizzie Bennet)
The entire team behind The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, especially Nessa Aref, Courtney Christensen, Christina Bialik and Shaan Rahman
Alysson Hall (Actress who play Jane and script writer for the series)
Walt Disney (The maker of Mickey Mouse and animated and live action movies)
Hayao Miazaki (Creator of many animated films from Japan, including Howl's Moving Castle)
Ridley Pearson (Author of adult mysteries, and the Disney series Kingdom Keepers)
Rick Riordan (Teacher and Author of the Percy Jackson series)
Sarah Dessen (A mother and a YA author)
Sarah Beth Durst (A fantasy and YA author)
John Green (YA author)
Neil Gaiman (Fantasy author)
Tamora Pierce (Fantasy author)
Julliet Marlier (A fantasy and YA author of Wildwood Dancing)
Peter S. Beagle (Fantasy author of The Last Unicorn)
J.R.R. Tolkein (Author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings)
J.K. Rowling (Author of the Harry Potter series)
Kate Morton (Author of Mystery/Fiction)
Gail Carson Levine (Author of Children's Lit Fantasy Stories including Ella Enchanted)
Alex Flynn (Author of Beastly)
Jane Austen (Author of seven well known novels)
Natsuki Takaya (Author and Artist for Fruits Basket)
The Hong Sisters (script writers for Korean Dramas including You're Beautiful)
Park Shin Hye (Singer and Actress)
Suzy (Singer and Actress)
Amy Adams (Singer and Actress)
Emma Thompson (Actress)
Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (Creators of Avatar the Last Airbender)
Kazushige Nojima and Daisuke Watanabe (Writers of Final Fantasy X)
Tetsuya Nomura (Writer/Creator of Kingdom Hearts)
Mary Hoffman (Author of Fantasy/ YA series Stravaganza)

I'm sure there are more. Here's my Pinterest board dedicated to amazing people from history who inspire me:
http://www.pinterest.com/sarahbelle624/people-who-inspire-me/

Who inspires you?

The Heart Chakra

I've said goodbye to a lot of people. Many have left this world. Many have never said goodbye and still exist, somewhere, living their lives. People have passed through my life, weaving strings like a tapestry of memories, good and bad. Some I came close to. Others I pushed away. Some, I never knew as much as I wanted to about them. Some people simply sat in the same classroom with me, and heard the same lecture or read the same novel. Each person I have seen, heard and become friends with has impacted my life in ways I may never know.
I took a class on grief, and wrote an essay on it, but I still don't think that grief just mysteriously disappears one day. Because people have been in your life, you think of them. Especially when you see someone who reminds you of them, hear a song you used to sing together, or be reminded of a time that you were closer to them than you are now. I guess this is the power of the heart.
In Kingdom Hearts, Leon tells Sora, "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other." The heart and mind record people in your life and you see them in others from time to time, or you remember something about them at random. 
In Avatar the Last Airbender, Guru Pathik tells Aang, "The Heart Chakra deals with love and is blocked by grief." After Aang lays all his grief in front of him, Guru Pathik says, "You have indeed felt a great loss, but love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The Air nomads love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and is reborn as new love."
 Grief may not be the same as remembering someone, or smiling at an old joke, but there is a familiar pang of loneliness when you realize that someone is gone, or things will never be the same.
They may not even be gone physically, but they are just not the same person you once knew. People and life are constantly changing, but in many ways, they stay the same. They fall on old habits, whether good or bad, and go through transformation after transformation. And because no one lives the same life, everyone approaches life differently.
Life is a powerful thing, but I think it's okay to remember someone every once in a while. You may discover something new, just from remembering the past under a new perspective.

Yuna says this best:

“I guess everyone’s like this. We cling to our secrets, our doubts, our memories…We’re never able to put them aside. Even though they confuse us, there are some things we can only find in that confusion. I think…it’s okay to feel that way.”

—	Yuna, Final Fantasy X-2

People: A poem

I will never understand them.

The ones that lie.
The ones who are shy.
The ones who leave without saying goodbye.
The ones who question.
The ones who tease.
The "weather friends" who decide your worth to them with ease.
The total strangers who teach something of life
People come with a lot of strife.

Heartbreak and hurt.
Truths you can't blurt.
Masks you must wear.
Times they don't care.
Their words like knives.
Only seconds of their lives.

The ones who smile
know about pain.
The ones who laugh
dance in the rain.
The ones that insult
quiver in fear.
The ones that cry
never ask why.
The ones that lie
never say goodbye.
The ones that live in memory
are there like a stain.
Somewhere between happiness and pain.