I remember as a kid in pre-school I thought that there was a hierarchy in so far as the kids in my class. You see I was in a class with kids who had parents that were doctors, teachers and other professionals. I would some time watch in envy as they would get dropped off by their parents at school with their nice little super marvel or Disney lunch containers in hand. And then there was me, I learned as a small kid about alarm clocks. Many times I was left alone over night so I would have to get myself up at in the morning and make sure I had enough bus fare to get to school in the morning. Afraid to be late I would get the school very early so i would see all the kids being dropped off by their parents. I learned very early that these kids with the professional parents would be the ones to succeed. I watched in class as the teacher always made the kids with the professional parents the class helper, they even called on them to answer the questions. All I did was get in fights and sit in the corner all day. I was labeled as a troublemaker and I wore may label very well.
As the years went by even though my home location and environment had change for the best I still carried alot of ideas that I attained while a very small kid. This idea was that success in life was predicated on where you came from and who your parents were, I remember my best friend Bobby who lived in the projects . Bobby was so smart that he was skipped 2 grade levels, but to me at the time it didn’t mean anything because he lived in the projects. In my mine he would not amount to anything.
Despite not remembering whether or not I studied very much in high school I still was able to attend college. I do remember a little secret I kept to myself, which I wanted more than anything in the world and that was to own a business, However, in my conscious mind I didn’t know if it would happen because I just didn’t come from the right beginnings. You see I learned very early in life that coming the right beginnings trumped everything one could do in life. That’s why my desire to become a business owner was a secret because I didn’t anyone to laugh at me or hurt my feelings because I didn’t come from the right beginnings. Even in college I met someone who I knew from my home town which was over 2000 miles away. This was one of the kids I considered to have professional parents, because they had a brand new car and apartment one of my college mates made the statement “oh, they must have come from the suburbs and you from the inner city (at the time neither one of us knew that this kid had been working and saving for both the car and apartment).
Life begin to turned from me I my professional career when I started meeting successful people who had not had the “right beginnings” or “professional parents”. I initially rejected the theory that one could come from meager beginnings and gain success. Those miracle stories I had read about were few and far between. However, more and more I met people with my same background and asked how did they become successful and each one told me it was because they wanted more than anything in the world and nothing was going to stop them. Man I thought to myself so many years of being misguided and even to this day I thank God for his deliverance from that ignorance.
Thanks to Linda, Michael and Jennifer for you continued strength and guidance.
Gerrie
Lesson plan from Gerrie on chapter 9 for the 30 day mental cleanse.
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