Another success story that most people are familiar is the story of Baltimore Ravens star player Michael Oher. His story was written by Michael Lewis in the book "The Blind Side" which was turned into the mega film by the same name. A quick summary of his story is he grew up in Memphis, Tennessee to a broken family. He was one of 12 children with parents that gave little to no support, his father was often in prison and his mother a drug addict, he was in and out of foster homes, and did poorly in school. Then when he was 16 he was taken in by the Tuohy family who became his legal guardians when he was 17. Under there care he improved in school and excelled in football, proving he had natural talent that was matched by few opponents. He was offered many spots to a variety of D.1 schools and excelled in football up to his drafting into the NFL where he's made his mark, most recently he signed a $7 million contract with the Carolina Panthers.
He's another example of some going from a family of extreme poverty and instability to excelling in a career path that brought him great success. It would seem that the key to rising from poverty, is having a skill you excel in, in his case sports, a lucky break, the Tuohy family, and hard work and determination. Add those three together and you should find success right? But unfortunately not, these rare cases are just that rare, so much talent and excellence goes unnoticed or undiscovered due to unequal opportunity which is a shame because who knows what we could accomplish if we had everyone's minds and abilities to work with.
He's another example of some going from a family of extreme poverty and instability to excelling in a career path that brought him great success. It would seem that the key to rising from poverty, is having a skill you excel in, in his case sports, a lucky break, the Tuohy family, and hard work and determination. Add those three together and you should find success right? But unfortunately not, these rare cases are just that rare, so much talent and excellence goes unnoticed or undiscovered due to unequal opportunity which is a shame because who knows what we could accomplish if we had everyone's minds and abilities to work with.