My sister was telling me about a conversation she had with her daughter's doctor concerning excellence. You see my neice is an honor student and wants to go to medical school. Her doctor comes from a long line of doctors, so he was very excited about my neice's choice. He told my sister that his family, originally from India, is entirely made up of doctors. His mother, father, sister, and brother are all doctors. He said, collectively they each paid for the other's education. Once a family member graduated medical school they joined the rest of the family in funneling their money into sending the next person to medical school. They did that until each person in their family became a doctor. So the entire family unit had a vested interest in each individual's success.
Think of the support and sense of responsibility you must feel to succeed knowing that everyone is trusting you to give 100%. Also it must feel spectacular knowing that after that last person graduates, there are no student loans hanging over anybody's head! Now that's smart. It is evident that in that family, excellence is a family affair.
Excellence can be obtained if you:
...care more than others think is wise;
...risk more than others think is safe;
...dream more than others think is practical;
...expect more than others think is possible.” - Author Unknown
My in-laws had a similar committment to each other. As the older children graduated from college, they took responsibility of helping the next sibling in line. One older brother even quit college and went into the military to send his sister to college (for fear that waiting would result in her marrying at a young age and having children before she could finish). He later returned to school himself. Of the 10 children, 9 are college graduates and several have advanced degrees.
ReplyDeleteI think that we have to set the expectation for each generation that failure in life is not an option. That's not to say that there won't be failures to overcome as we learn. But in the matter of life, success is the magic word.
9 out of 10, wow!! That's awesome. I remember looking at the Ditch Digger's Daughters a long time ago. I think I missed parts in the middle so I really want to see it again but he basically was going to make his daughters a sucess even if it killed him I think. I wouldn't go to that extreme but it seems all but one of the girls appreciated it in the end.
ReplyDeleteThat has to to be an awesome feeling. The feeling that within your family there is generations of success. But the best feeling is that knowing your family will be there for each other. I wasn't surprised to hear that this was occurring within a mideastern family. It is often that other cultures have traditions in their families that will help catapult them in life. I pray that within my family we can start a similar tradition. Hopefully within our culture we will begin to see how we have to stand together to beat the odds. .
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