What I can do however is share a story, I am not even sure this story is a qualification for anybody to be President. It certainly however is a story worthy of repeating and sharing given the its spirit of gratitude and inspiration.
My mother dropped out of college when she was pregnant with me, she and my father married shortly before I was born. Their marriage was not however healthy and over time they separated and divorced. Thankfully, my father wanted to be part of my life, and my mother recognized this importance equally. They worked together to raise me despite their differences and I think this is all for the better. I’m happy to call both of my parents any day of the week, I love them dearly.
We were poor before the divorce, we were even more poor after. My mother was working at a nursing home, while she received child support, the low wages and three mouths to feed (mom, myself, and my brother), posed a steep mountain to climb. Even with her income we were typically under the poverty line and received welfare benefits as a result. However the benefits were such that if my mother worked just a few hours a week too much, we wouldn’t get the check (too much earned income) and we were worse off than if she hadn’t worked at all. This difficult situation left my mother with a few choices for caring for us.
She choose to quit her job and go to school. As a full time mom, and a full time college student, with kids in school she had a very difficult balance to make with us. She worried about violence in the world, she worried about drugs, and gangs, and the statistical chances for a boy growing up in a divorced household at the time. Maybe she didn’t worry about it, but given how much I worried about these things as a child of divorce at the time I can only assume they were her worries projected onto me and into my own personal psyche. Regardless there was worry.
My mom announced when I came home from school that she read a bio piece about a renowned neurosurgeon. It turned out that he was raised by his single mother, and that for many year grew up in hotels as his mother worked as a maid. Both he and his brother had gotten into trouble, and his mother decided to do something about it. Both the boys were required to read books and write reports and leave them for her to read. Well the reading worked, the child would write reports read books and write and read and write over and over and over again. This cycle went on for years, and despite the chances life threw him at the beginning he was able to overcome them. It wasn’t until much later in life that the young boy became a man, and discovered that his mother never read a single report. You see she couldn’t read. His reading however ultimately resulted in his awareness, he had a brain.
Well my mother decided after reading this piece decided that she would do the same with my me. Later, when my brother was able to read he would have to do the same. I read countless books. I developed a love of reading that is rivaled only by my love of God, my Wife, and my Children. I learned to love reading and writing more than even my chief hobby in college, Chess. More importantly however reading developed a love of learning, of thinking, and knowledge.
A few years ago I sent my mother an email asking if it was Dr. Ben Carson. I had been thinking about this decision she made. It was a turning point in my life, and as a parent I have begun to think about those influential moments that made me the man I am today. What pains can I spare my children, what blessings can I give them, and what lessons must they learn without my immediate aid.
This one stands out as one of the most defining moments of my childhood. I had been doing research trying to identify the story that changed my life and I thought I found it here , she confirmed it. I don’t think I would have ever entered a gang or gone the route of drugs, though I guess this is always possible. I do however believe that my love of reading would never have been cultivated.
Without that love of reading I almost certainly wouldn’t have graduated from college. Without my degree I never would have met my wife. And without my wife, I wouldn’t have two of my very beautiful children. I certainly wouldn’t have entered graduate school, and I probably wouldn’t be writing much of anything.
Last night I called my wife up to talk. She is currently visiting my mother and staying at her home. In the middle of my conversation my mother interrupted to ask me if I knew who Dr. Ben Carson was. She doesn’t identify as a Republican, so I can see why she might think I would have no idea. She then told me for the third time in my life he was the inspiration for one of her most spectacular parenting techniques in raising me.
To Dr. Ben Carson I can only say thank you. I will share a link to your official website, not as an endorsement but as a token of thanks for contributing to my path of adulthood. You didn’t know me, you most likely never will know me, and that is ok. You were a role model for children before you were running for President, you were at the time a very well respected surgeon and you changed lives without even having to perform surgery. I look at your example and contrast it with the example of many in sports, the media culture, and even politics. You stand out above the rest as an example of success, triumph over adversity, morality and your story can inspire others.
Thank you.
#BenCarson #RepublicanPrimary
