How We Turned Out Okay
We beat the odds growing up in an unprivileged community
One of my old-time friends recently visited me. We’ve been friends for so long, it’s over a decade now. We lived in the same hometown, attended the same high school, and proceeded to the same university.
He stayed only a couple of days when he visited. On one of those days, I returned from work to find him watching an intriguing family drama movie. Being exhausted from my day’s job, I joined him — sliding into my favourite single seater sofa with a tremendous sigh, hoping to while away some time.
It wasn’t long after I joined him when a scene in the movie sparked a conversation that later turned into reflections on our common background, the community we grew up in and the limited privileges and access we had growing up.
Talking about all of that, we pondered on how far we’ve come in this life. We both wondered, realizing how fortunate we have been. We admitted how highly stacked the cards were against us and yet somehow we scaled them.
We travelled back to several important life-altering moments, many informed and uninformed decisions we have made, the little to no mentors and inspiring role models we had growing up.
