Awaken the Inner Hero
PROFILES IN COURAGE: TWO HEROES Carol Stinson let the villain run her life, in no small part because she had grown up extremely poor in Philadelphia. Then she eventually moved to a not-so-pleasant area in New Jersey. She summarized her philosophy this way: “The poor stay poor. The rich get richer. They have advantages no one else does.” But it wasn’t just her upbringing that allowed the villain to dominate her thoughts and her life. As an adult, she en- countered one hardship after the next. Her husband lost his job during one of the toughest economic periods in American history, instilling even more negativity and supporting the villain’s cause. She was raising five children of her own plus two grandchildren—the youngest was a special needs child. Some days all they could afford to eat was peanut butter, and their electricity was turned off because of nonpayment of bills. She told me she would wake up and immediately feel fear and panic, because in New Jersey, if your electric is shut off, CPS (child protective services) could take your children. So you probably understand why Carol told me the fol- lowing: “When you’re from the wrong side of the tracks, this is what you believe is the lot in life you were dealt. You’re supposed to live in poverty. You’re supposed to live in scarci- ty. You have envy and disdain for those with money because you feel, somehow, if they’re making money, they must be robbing it from us.” And of course it was really easy to assign blame: It’s the economy, the president, rich people, smart people, and a hun- dred other scapegoats that encourage self-doubt and feelings of hopelessness. This happens when you resort to thinking, “This is what we have.” We create change when we desire to have more, and this desire is powerful and deep. But we can also create change when we hit rock bottom. Let’s hope the second option is never the reason you have to make a shift, and you decide you want more.
89
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker