I always love the stories about stars like Sophia Loren who was told that she should get a nose job and was not skinny enough to become an actress...or Einstein who was told how he was slow or Edison that he was dumb. I used to work as a substitute teacher for many different schools and I could never imagine ever telling a student that he was dumb or discourage him/her from pursuing his goals in life. After all, who am I to make such an assessment on someone's life. I honestly do not understand why people do this...when they come from such a negative dark place and want to discourage others.
Case in point. My father once mentioned to his fifth grade teacher that he wanted to become a doctor. Instead of saying...Oh wow. That's wonderful, go for it.." she simply said "You will never be a doctor.," and discouraged him.
My father was the son of a Buddhist minister and lived in a very small town in Hawaii but
instead of becoming discouraged, he felt challenged and went on to prove that teacher wrong.
This year, my father retired after being chief of staff as a pathologist at a major hospital. I am proud to say that he worked as physician for over forty years, and still today, I run into people who know my father and tell me how kind a boss he was and how much they loved him.
A funny twist to this story. Well into her twenties, when my mother was a nurse, she once took care of an elderly woman back in Hawaii. Incredibly as fate would have it, it turned out that very woman was the mother of the teacher who had once discouraged my dad. When my mother found out that she was her mother, she said "You know your daughter once taught my husband."
"Really," the older woman responded.
"And please let your daughter know that my husband became a doctor and graduated top of his medical school."
Has anyone ever discouraged you? How did you prove them wrong?
(:
Have a wonderful week my friends. Dream! Do! Become! I'm rooting for you.
Till Next Week...
Gaya
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