Rita Levi-Montalcini

Rita is a role model of mine. She turned 101 years old this year and was born in Torino, Italy, a city I've lived in and adore.
In 1986, Rita was handed a Nobel prize in Medicine for fundamental nerve growth factor research. She's famous for a bunch of other scientific and Medicine related discoveries and also as a woman who has influenced culture and history as we know it. She has done things that movies are made about.
I'm reading her autobiography: "In Praise of Imperfection, My life and Work". The book opens with a chapter about Torino. I relieved sensory memories, emotions, heard sounds that I experienced while living in Torino.
I remember reading an interview she gave when she turned 100 and was still working 10 hour days. The quote that stuck with me is: "My body may do what it wants. I am the mind". Fascinating!
The gal is Jewish and made it alive through Hitler's prosecutions, not only did she continue her work in a lab she rudimentarily put together in her bedroom, but she got a Nobel Prize as well. She became a Senator for life and many universities across the Globe offered her honorary doctoral degrees. I wonder what does it feel like to live one's life with pride? I wonder what does it feel like to be proud of all of one's accomplishments? I wonder what would it be like to be honored without becoming pompous, or diminish one's own merits? I wonder what it is like to accept praise without false modesty or arrogance? I wonder what it may feel like to lift your head high and take in the light? I only know how to lurk in the shadow. I don't know how to be friendly without being clingy, hear praise without wondering what the praising person wants from me, trusting the light enough to walk in it and not be afraid I'll be killed. I want to live in the light. I was born with the light, but people have stolen it from me. I want my light back!