I owe a debt of gratitude to the unknown person who decided to put twenty or thirty biographies on the shelves of my fifth grade classroom. All that year I read biographies avidly.
I met Jane Addams, who I remember as a society girl with a limp and a conscience. Though her father wanted her to marry, she founded Hull House because she wanted to ease the suffering of the poor. She started a movement and America was changed.
I was fascinated by Charles Steinmetz, a brilliant electrical engineer of the 1800s. He had a severe curvature of the spine, but never let it slow him down. He did his part to change scientific understanding.
I loved George Washington Carver for his gentle ways and innovative mind. Born a slave and abandoned in infancy, he was raised by a Missouri farmer—but only for eight years. After that he went to town for schooling and worked for a laundress in exchange for board. He was woefully disrespected even after he became a well-known scientist, but never stopped his investigations into ways to use peanuts to meet consumer needs and thus he provided a living for many desperate farmers.
I was huge fan of the all the Roosevelts, but especially Eleanor. Her mother told her she was ugly, she was painfully shy and was orphaned young, and yet, in spite of it all, she became a world leader by hard work and native intelligence.
I remember them all as if I had met them personally. Collectively they taught me hope and perseverance. No matter how many strokes one had against one, or how unlikely success appeared, it was clear to me that time was on my side. I have lived my life with that belief. So I hereby express my appreciation to the book buyer who made it possible for me to draw those conclusions.
