On Morning Edition on October 10th there was a “This I Believe” essay by Benjamin Carson. Dr. Benjamin Carson is director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. His expertise includes separating conjoined twins and doing brain surgery to control seizures. A scholarship fund Carson founded has helped some 1,700 students through college. Here is a section from the essay that makes it related to LISNEWS. She (Mr. Carson’s mother) announced that my brother and I could only watch two to three pre-selected TV programs during the week. With our free time, we had to read two books each from the Detroit Public Library and submit to her written book reports. She would mark them up with check marks and highlights. Years later we realized her marks were a ruse. My mother was illiterate; she had only received a third-grade education.
Truly an inspiring essay. Full text of essay and link to audio is available here.
Re: This I believe
I don’t think you need to worry about any part of the essay having anything to do with LIS. I think the whole thing is relevant. Once in a while we just need to read something inspiring, and more importantly, be reminded of the power that a good parent can have. It is a pity we don’t see enough in this day and age of parents that just dump their kids anywhere. Parents who seem “parents” in label only. I particularly liked how she gave him the budget for a week. He sure learned fast.