Readings

It’s not very often I get to read a book because I want to.  Usually I am reading for research or preparing for class.  I was lucky enough to have just finished a book I was reading “just because”.  This book is title Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  This was a very interesting read.  I really appreciated the authors’ argument that we are all where we are in life due to circumstances and happen chances.  He was able to back his argument up with excellent examples.  He used Bill Gates and the Beatles as examples of this argument saying that while they are great, it is opportunities that were presented to them that allowed them to achieve what they did/ have… that no one is that great to accomplish such things on their own.  This book challenges you to look at your own life, which I did.  I realize that were I am today, with a great job and a fantastic career before even having my PhD, just accepted into a PhD program that happens to fit my research interests perfectly (and the only school I applied to), as a Fulbright Scholar and recipient of other grant awards, married to a wonderful man, a homeschooling mother to three health children, etc, because of opportunities and help from others presented to me along the way.  Having a hard working mother who worked her way out of a hard youth to land at a national lab in a small city with a fabulous educational system, having a family who, went through heartache and pain before I arrived and was on to brighter days as I grew up, moving in the third grade and attending a new elementary school where I met my dearest friend that continues to be my dearest friend to this day who has been nothing but encouraging and supportive, attending a high school (while administratively awful) provided an amazing education and opportunities, to meeting teachers in high school that encouraged us, emphasize the importance of a college education and show us beyond the borders of our small city, getting a full ride to both undergrad and grad school (otherwise attending Howard University would have been an impossibility) , to meeting my husband the first day I arrived in DC, etc.  You get the point… opportunities!

It is both humbling and inspiring to recognize that life is nothing more than a series of opportunities that we either take or let pass us by.  It is humbling because it forces us to realize that we are not as great as we thought we were, that anyone with similar opportunities can achieve the same success we have.  It is inspiring because it gives us hope and helps us realize we can be as great as we desire… we can be the next Oprah or Bill Gates as long we are prepared for opportunities as they are presented to us.

Reading this book has certainly put some things in perspective for me and given me another way to view life.  I am excited to move forward with this Fulbright adventure and see what new doors of opportunity will open.