What inspires us?

I have been fortunate enough to be active in "the outside world" lately, i.e. outside of my triangle shaped office, and have been struck by many things - most of which I have posted already. But what I keep coming back to is that its nit necessarily the ideas that inspire me, but the people that believe them. In fact, if I think back on the moments in my life it is the people that I remember. It is apiring to be like them that motivates me to return to school, or create a project or even to just go to work. It is meeting people like David Warlick and seeing someone that truly believes that educators can and are capable of being the best teachers in the world. It is remembering my mentor from my first year of teaching, who inspired me to connect with my students and put in as much as effort as humanly possible. It is my brother who inspired me to become a teacher in the first place. As excited I get about new ideas - it is really the people that inspire me to use these ideas.