Prescription for Success
Isn’t it encouraging when you hear someone say exactly what you’ve been saying all along? You feel validated, and finally appreciated.
One comment I’ve received over and over from parents is that even though they share much the same message with their kids, the kids act like they are hearing it for the first time. I assure them it isn’t that they aren’t listening. It’s simply that hearing something from multiple sources seems to have a bigger impact.
As I was driving to work a few mornings ago, I heard something that has stuck with me. It wasn’t anything I’d never heard before. In fact, it was something that I say fairly regularly. Within a feel-good human-interest story was a nugget of truth that so many need to hear.
I love reading human interest stories. I love writing them too. When I was on my college’s newspaper staff, I received horrible grades on my “news” stories. They weren’t very good. But the stories I wrote about people and their lives and experiences always had a better grade. I simply love learning more about people, their lives, their struggles, and their triumphs.
The story was about a doctor working in Louisiana. But he’s not just any doctor. He’s a doctor that used to be a security guard at the very hospital where he now practices medicine.
I had to learn more. As it turns out, several years ago, while working in the reserves, this man needed an additional job because he and his wife had a baby on the way. Noticing a posting for a security guard, he discovered that the hours were flexible enough to allow him to go back to school as well as have time for his family.
While working as the security guard, he would study his flashcards, and ask the doctors as they drove into and out of the parking garage if he could shadow them sometime. Time after time, doctors declined, until one doctor, the chief surgery resident, saw something that made him say “yes.” The surgeon took the security guard under his wing, and now, the former security guard has a PhD in molecular oncology. And he’s set to finish up his MBA and MD in the coming year.
He was given a chance. And that chance turned into his dream come true.
I listened to a brief soundbite from the interview. His voice was full of life and pride, and he said “the difference between who you are and who you could be is what you do.” And again, but louder for the people in the back. “THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU COULD BE IS WHAT YOU DO.”
I was so encouraged. I felt like they very thing I’ve been saying since I started with The EDGE program in 2009 is finally catching on. I felt validated, and was beaming with pride as though I was listening to a former student share what motivated him to make certain choices (as an aside, if you or someone you know was a former student that was impacted by The EDGE, we’d love to hear about it!)
So often, we feel we are just a product of our circumstances. We look at where we are and simply think it’s impossible to be or do xyz. We think we are too poor, not smart enough, too rough around the edges or simply not valuable enough to accomplish and live the dreams we have.
But as this doctor learned anything is possible. When you have determination, add mentorship, delayed gratification and healthy choices, big things can happen. You see, not only was this man working at the hospital where he once was a security guard, but he was working very close to where he grew up, which he described as his “humble beginnings.”
But despite that, and despite everything that could have held him back, this man is succeeding. Additionally, he helped start an organization that has the long-term goal of starting a high school in Louisiana that works to prepare teens to enter the medical field.
And how did he get to this point? Because he knew just how important decisions are. He knew that the only thing that was in the way of where he was and where he wanted to be were his choices. And that’s what The EDGE is about. We want our students to realize that today’s choices affect tomorrow’s future. Not everyone is born a doctor. But everyone can work to get there.