Up From Slavery

I started 'Up From Slavery' [By Booker T. Washington] today! The beginning is good but my mother pointed out that as it goes on it gets pretty boring, sadly.

I'm liking it so far, which is good. I like what he says in the second chapter, Boyhood Days.

"In later years, I confess that I do not envy the white boy as I once did. I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Looked at from this standpoint, I almost reached the conclusion that often the Negro boy's birth and connection with an unpopular race is an advantage, so far as real life is concerned. With few exceptions, the Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race." -'Up From Slavery', Chapter 2 [Boyhood Days], by Booker T. Washington.

 It, in some ways, is inspiring. It reminds me that, even though I may not have all the resources in the world, I can reach higher goals as long as I work, in some way.

So, I encourage you, no matter what road you walk, to try and fight for success! Maybe that will be my real New Years Resolution! Try to overcome every bump in the road. Good idea, right?

I think so.

Lia.