Posted on 03/18/2013 12:30:39 PM PDT by jazusamo
A remarkable book titled "Gifted Hands" tells the personal story of Benjamin Carson, a black kid from the Detroit ghetto who went on to become a renowned neurosurgeon.
At one time young Ben Carson had the lowest grades in his middle school class, and was the butt of teasing by his white classmates. Worse yet, he himself believed that he was just not smart enough to do the work.
Fortunately for him, his mother, whose own education went no further than the third grade, insisted that he was smart. She cut off the television set and made him and his brother hit the books — books that she herself could scarcely read.
As young Ben's school work began to catch up with that of his classmates, and then began to surpass that of his classmates, his whole view of himself and of the wider world around him began to change. He began to think that he wanted to become a doctor.
There were a lot of obstacles to overcome along the way, including the fact that his mother had to be away from time to time for psychiatric treatment, as she tried to cope with the heavy pressures of trying to raise two boys whose father had deserted the family that she now had to support on a maid's wages.
In many ways the obstacles facing young Ben Carson were like those faced by so many other youngsters in the ghetto. What was different was that he overcame those obstacles with the help of a truly heroic mother and the values she instilled in him.
It is an inspiring personal story, told plainly and unpretentiously, including the continuing challenges he faced later as a neurosurgeon operating on the brains of people with life-threatening medical problems, often with odds against them.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
My personal favorite is “Taking the Risk” I have his new book on America...but haven’t had time to read it yet.
I have several educational successes so far, although in any large family, there’s usually one who turns out to be a totally useless goof. I have my suspicions about which of ours it will be ;-).
I’ve got the movie with Cuba Gooding, Jr. as the good doctor on our Netflix queue, and also the life-story documentary featuring Dr. Carson himself.
And thank you for the ping.
You have FReepmail.
Agreed...I’m always happy to see Dr. Sowell and Dr. Williams speak out about it, unfortunately the people needing their lessons the most are the least likely to read them.
Maybe if they made it into a video game...
...I LOVE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR!
I’ll say it again. This man fixed my baby nephew’s head just after he started his career. Not only did he do a great job, my mother will tell you how kind and concerned and humble he was. He told my mother and sister (RIP) that they should be praying, and thanking God, not him.
The principal at my kids’ elementary school said she’d been made fun of for ‘acting white’ while growing up. And somewhat wistfully noted that some of those who’d teased her were surprised to see her when she showed up as principal at the school where they were on the janitorial staff.
Dr. Carson is a good man and I pray your nephew is still doing well.
Oh he’s fine with his head! He’s 25 now but as a baby his forehead was sticking out like The Man in the Mountain.
GOOD!! :-)
At the small Chinese take-out place where I get lots of my meals, there's a home schooled 10th grader with purple hair and a nose earring who works there.
She also works part time at a day care as well as baby sits pets.......
I recently gave her two books, Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics" and Justice Clarence Thomas' auto bio.........
As for Thomas Sowell, I couldn't bring myself to read it but she loved it and said she has also studied macro economics at home.......
This young gal really impresses me, especially with the professional manner she answeres the phone at the Chinese take out........
I don't know, she just gave me hope for the kids growing up today.........
Thanks!
You know what? It's not me, it's her family......her mother is a hairdresser but home schools Brandy.
One night when I went in to pick up my order, Brandy couldn't make it to work that evening so her older brother was filling in for her......go figure!
You're exactly right but you recognized the situation and reached out to help, there's not a lot of people willing to do that now.
Her mother sounds a lot like Ben Carson's mother, she puts the kids first.
Hate to break this to you, but a girl that age doing pet sitting most likely firmly believes she’s getting the better end of that deal. :-)
Well, there it is...... the story.
Poor old Rand has no story. He better get on the stick and get one out.
BTW, I love the way Carson wields his verbal scalpel that is so sharp you can’t see the cut until the blood begins to flow.
At a former job, there was a pleasant gentleman from Guatemala who was on the janitorial crew. He made it a point to come in my office and speak to me, every single night that I was there. The rest of the crew was from Haiti - they didn't know that I speak a little French - and they relentlessly made fun of him. "Suck-up", approximately, would be the censored version.
One night, I asked - not that I didn't enjoy speaking with him, but, why did he want to talk with me so much? Especially with all of the static that he got from his co-workers?
He said that the only way that he could move up was by improving his English, and that would only happen by practicing.
After 18 months or so, as he desired, he was promoted to running his own cleaning crew. The rest of Haitian bunch? They were all still there when I left.
If that's not a plain illustration of cultural differences, I'm not sure what is.
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