Over Spring Break a couple of weeks ago I finally had the chance to read Michael Oher's book, I Beat the Odds that my mom gave me months ago. In the book he tells details about his childhood of poverty, homelessness, and foster care in Memphis and how he was personally motivated to work his way out of poverty. His main goal in writing the book is to tell children in poverty how they can get out and to show people who can help what the needs are.
Hope through a Dream
From the time he was seven, his sights were set on the future. "I knew that I wanted a life outside of the 'hood and I knew that the only way I could get it would be to go after it on my own."
"Helping kids see a better way of thinking and living when they are young is so much easier than trying to re-teach them a whole new way of life when they are adults and end up making the same mistakes their parents made."
"Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream, and so does every kid in foster care. Our dreams may not be as big as his were, but they are just as important. Having some kind of goal is absolutely essential for kids trapped in poverty and bad family situations, because if we can't hope that things might be better someday, then we basically lose a reason to live. It's lot easier to fall down, or to stay where you are, than it is to fight gravity by trying to pull yourself up."
Working toward the Dream
Once Michael realized that sports were the road he would take, he thought it would be something that happened once he was an adult. "But as I got older... I started to see a difference between myself and the other kids who had my same dream. There were the kids who wanted to become something. The ones who wanted it ended up getting involved in drugs and gangs - the easy way to make some quick cash and the most common route to take. The kids who were working toward it were the ones who were showing up to school, trying to be responsible, and studying players instead of just watching sports."
"In the end, I realized any success I might have would come down to two things. 1.) finding good people to surround myself with; and 2.) taking responsibility for myself."
A few days after Spring Break, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar with Ruby Payne about her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Two of her key points reminded me of exactly what Michael Oher is telling the children who are growing up in similar situations to his childhood.
1. Two things that help one move out of poverty are:
- Education
- Relationships
2. Four reasons one leaves poverty are:
- Too painful to stay
- Vision or goal
- Key relationship
- Special talent/skill
One of the last chapters is called "Breaking the Cycle," where Michael is addresses kids like him specifically.
"Just because the statistics say we're likely to fail doesn't mean that it has to be true for us."
"Don't ever allow yourself to feel trapped by your choices. Take a look at yourself. You are a unique person created for a specific purpose. Your gifts matter. Your story matters. Your dreams matter. You matter. The decisions you make this year, this month, this week, this day, this hour - they all matter, too. Each good choice is an investment in your future. You can get a better life. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves and work for it, then you certainly deserve it."
This last quote is the message that I want to both tell and show all of my students. I'm thinking about ways to share this quote with my current students in a meaningful way.
