Amelia Earhart
Hey Pidge, I’m almost packed. Can you pass me my leather jacket?
Grace Earhart
Ah, I remember your first one. You slept in it for three days so that it wouldn’t look so new. You got it right before you chopped your hair off, grandmother would have turned in her grave but I’ve always thought it was so cool. I can’t believe you’re about to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Aren’t you frightened?
Amelia
It’s not about whether or not it scares me, Pidge. I always ask myself this: ‘is the goal worth the risk involved?’ And if it is, I stop worrying. The decision to act is the most difficult thing, the rest is merely tenacity. Do you remember how grandmother would always ask mum why we were wearing bloomers instead of dresses?
Grace
She always wanted to turn us into ‘nice little girls’ didn’t she? She chose to live in the confines of her gender. But you were always a thrill-seeker. Lucky mother was on our side!
Amelia
We were lucky. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. I truly believe that people can do incredible things when they are determined and put their minds to it. Girls can do adventurous things. I did them, after all!
Grace
Yes, but not everyone is as fearless as you, Meeley. And I don’t particularly enjoy being laughed at when something goes wrong!
Amelia
We often don’t get a fair break. Especially girls whose tastes aren’t routine… It has come down through the generations, an inheritance of age-old customs, which produced the corollary that women are bred to timidity. But it simply isn’t true. We must try to do things as men have tried.
Women must already pay for everything. We do get more glory than men for comparable feats… But also, we get more notoriety when we crash.
Grace
That notoriety has always scared me.
Amelia
But, my dear sister, think about the other side of that coin. We must make the notoriety an opportunity. If we get a larger audience, regardless of whether we succeed or not, we must embrace it with open arms. When we fail, that failure must be a challenge to others. I’ve always been determined to follow my dreams and break through barriers. And you know what the great thing is? Even my failures, when I’ve spoken or written about them, have given others the courage and spark to have a go.
Grace
What do you mean?
Amelia
If you persist, even when you meet with challenges, it shows everyone else what is possible. I’ve flown straight through the glass ceiling, because I chose to believe it was possible. Women should do for themselves what men have already done—occasionally what men have not done—thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. Some such consideration was a contributing reason for my wanting to do what I so much wanted to do.
Grace
A good example is followed, I suppose. A single action can throw out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees?
Amelia
Exactly. You know when I became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, as a passenger? It was 1928 and Stultz did all the flying—he had to. I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes. But it made me think… Maybe someday I’ll try it alone.
Grace
And here you are, flying further than he ever could have imagined! I wish you all the best, Meeley. I cannot wait to hear all about it.
