In college I read an essay written by a black female in the early 1900's. It was so full of joy that she was going to college and she was planning to become a teacher. She wrote of her grandparents who were born slaves and then became share croppers and of her parents who had only eighth grade educations but now owned a store.
She said for her grandparents, it was "get ready", for her parents it was "get set" and now for her it was "Go!"
She was under no illusion that it would be easy but she also had no doubt she would make it.
That essay was removed from the text a few years later.
That’s sad. Back in the day, we enjoyed stories about people who overcame hardships to succeed at something difficult. Now, I suppose we can’t have that because people who didn’t try as hard feel bad about themselves.