The Advantages of Being a Poor Dyslexic Orphan

Malcolm Gladwell is a spectacular Canadian author, famous for taking an uncommon approach to analyzing the changing world we live in and redefining how we look at success and the factors that lead to it. In his 2013 novel, David and Goliath, Gladwell recounts several stories about underdogs defying the odds to pull off incredible feats — the common thread between each of them being that their adversity turned out to play a major part in their success.

Substantiating this theme by looking at some of the exceptional individuals in my own life, I found that not only are power, wealth and health not exclusive harbingers of success, but it also seems that there are advantages to being disadvantaged.

THE CO-WORKER

She’s Dyslexic, with a reading comprehension in the bottom 1 percentile. She is also one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known.

Dissatisfied with the engineering positions I’d held in first- and second-year university, I felt drawn to entrepreneurship; to being my own boss. Like a man possessed, I put all my energy towards pursuing new ideas and opportunities. This crackhead enthusiasm eventually got me noticed by the University’s student union and I became the Director of the student-run incubator, Hatch, working alongside the Senior Director who had been running the program a year prior to my hiring.

To the table, I brought boundless excitement and a willingness to learn. She brought the experience and entrepreneurial intuition. I quickly learned that she had won an award when she was a teenager for starting a cosmetic business. Wanting to organize a grad-trip for her graduating class in High School, she started a travel business that grossed 100,000 in 2 years.

What was she doing differently? I could never understand what her x-factor was until I finally asked her, “What do you do in your free time?”

“Work”, she replied.

It was then that I understood. Each day, I released my entrepreneurial energy by spending countless hours reading memoirs and doing research. She released her entrepreneurial energy by ACTUALLY doing entrepreneurial shit.

See, she was never as comfortable consuming media the same way I was. Her disadvantage forced her to see the world differently and fill her time in unconventional ways. She couldn’t read books the same way, learn in class the same way, or even type in the search bar of her browser the same way. She was hungry to learn, just like I was, but had to find more practical methods of educating herself. So while I learned all I could about the entrepreneurs living the life I wanted to live, she went out and lived that life for herself.

What was she doing differently? She was just doing.

THE GIRLFRIEND

She didn’t have the same High School experience most of us were familiar with. While others were heading to the mall after school (or, in my case, home to play Starcraft II), she was heading to work.

From working as a manager at McDonald’s to helping out at her mother’s consignment store, she spent most of her free time saving what she could to fund her education. Even now, in the home stretch of her university career, she continues to hold down two jobs with the goal of graduating with as little debt as possible.

While her financial situation has demanded that she add waitressing at a to her already busy school schedule, she somehow seems to love it. Many of her peers, myself included, don’t have the same relationship with nine-to-five’s, and drag their feet to work each morning. Conditioned over many years of hustling, she has found a certain comfort in the grind and has bred within herself an unbeatable work ethic that will serve her throughout life.

THE FATHER

Being an orphan is tough. Being an orphan in India is a nightmare.

His parents stolen from him at a young age, he was forced into the care of his several of his aunts and uncles — not as ideal of an alternative as one might think. You see, they already had children of their own, and instead of feeling like part of the family, my dad was often treated as a helping hand; always the first to cook and always the last to eat. On his hairless head, I can still see a dent in his skull where he was hit with a broom.

There are few people who can truly say they started with nothing, but my father is one of them. Everything he ever had was earned, right down to the familial love that most of us get unconditionally. Working tirelessly to escape the life he hated, he spent each day inching towards his dream of a happy family with all the love and comfort they could ask for.

I’ve never known a life without love. I’ve never known a life without opportunity. I’ve never known a life with my back to the wall. I have my dad to thank for that; he got everything he dreamed of and more.

Having finally climbed the ladder to a rung high enough to live comfortably, he could probably stop dreaming. He could probably take it easy. He could probably stop working.

Will he? Probably not.

After 50 years only knowing how to shoot for the stars, who could stop him now?

YOU

This may not mean much coming from a man who grew up in a stable two-parent family from Toronto. But while I’ve faced little adversity in my life, I’ve known those who have. They are some of the strongest, most inspirational people I’ve ever met.

To you my friend: I do not mean to make light of your adversity. Physical, mental, and societal disadvantages are not easily managed, much less overcome. But from their weaknesses, many have developed their greatest strengths. Catastrophe breeds courage; and misery breeds mindfulness. On the other side, where the grass is greener, some people’s prosperous circumstances have led them to develop certain weaknesses too. Comfort breeds complacency; and affluence breeds apathy. I guess that’s just the yin and yang of life.

Maybe I’m being idealistic; believing in a world where we all have a shot to make something great of ourselves despite our circumstances. But if you believe how I believe, I request of you one thing: do not let your ambitions or self-worth be limited by your disadvantages. Be proud of the person you have become despite them. But, perhaps most importantly, be proud of the person you are because of them.