This week:Sayings that have helped change my life.

"England expects that every man this day will do his duty."

This famous message, hung in flags from the mizzen mast of H.M.S. Victory, preluded the greatest of England's naval triumphs at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

It was a bloody affair for all involved. The man who sent the message did his 'duty' and lost his life doing it.

Would that all of life's tasks and challenges filled us with euphoria and exhileration. Experience teaches us differently. Most days we rise to face the common call of duty.

Millions of us, house-wives, fathers, mothers, workers, warriors, doctors, ditch-diggers, peasants and preachers without fanfare or fame, just doing our duty.

A pupil in the school where I taught did an essay on "Who is my hero?"  He wrote the following: "On Monday my mother did the washing and hung it out to dry. Our dog knocked down the clothes-prop and the sheets were all muddy. My mother never said a word. She did the sheets all over again and then made my dinner. She's my hero."

Do your God-given duty today and you will be someone else's hero.

Ian