To Have Nothing Going For You and STILL Succeed

For me, nothing astounds me more than a story of someone who came from nothing and made something of themselves. To have absolutely nothing going for you at all and still find a way to succeed. There is nothing I admire more. Two stories that I am particularly touched by are that of Michael Oher and Ruth McBride.

Michael Oher was a completely destitute teenager growing up in the wrong part of Memphis. With no prominent adult figures in his life, he basically lived on the streets by himself. All this at the age of 16! His father dead, and his mother addicted to drugs, there was no one in his life he could turn to for support or for basic emotional needs. So how did this young man who was destined for nothing, turn himself around and become an NFL starting left tackle? It was a combination of luck and talent. He somehow was accepted into a private high school which gave him a tremendous opportunity. This however was not enough. Although he was now in a prestigious high school he was still living on the street and was more or less illiterate. What really turned him around was the support of a local family in the area, the Tuohy's. They housed him, got his grades up, got him a position on the football team, and then pushed him to be the best he could be. With his new adopted family's help, he would eventually turn into the NFL star he has become.

The story of Ruth McBride is quite different. Her story is told by her award winning author and musician son, James McBride. It is truly a story of pure heart and will. Ruth McBride grew up in a Jewish family in Poland, eventually immigrating to the United States. Her father was a despicable person. He constantly sexually, physically, and emotionally abused Ruth and her mother. Eventually he would leave her mother for a fat widow who lived down the street. Because of the discrimination she was subjected to by the white people in her community she began to have close relationships with the black community. She would eventually marry two black men and have 12 children. Raising the family in the projects with very little resources was her biggest obstacle. For several years she would even have to raise them on her own after the death of both of her husbands. Even with all of these problems she faced, she put every single one of her kids through college and most even through graduate school. A mother anyone would be proud of.

These stories are both inspirational, but the reasons for their success are very different. In the case of Michael Oher, he was simply in the right place at the right time. Had he not been adopted by a wealthy family he would have most likely become a nobody. Yes his talent comes into play, but that would become irrelevant without the opportunity he was given. Ruth McBride was not your average inspiring story. She did not eventually become insanely rich or even well known. She simply lived her life the right way. She fought through her adversity and raised 12 children to become successful members of society. She clung to her faith and used will power to be successful. Just as Ecclesiastes speaks of being diligent in chapter 11, these two people were diligent in their own life. With diligence, few obstacles cannot be overcome. One thing both of these people have in common however, is that they are true success stories; showing that success can come in many different ways as long as one is diligent. In the end however, both Michael and Ruth took their success into their own hands, and that is the only way anyone can have a true success story.