Even if we didn’t know the context, we were instructed to remember that context existed. Everyone on earth, they’d tell us, was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance.
. . .
I passed the rest of that day trying to say less to my cousin, feeling put off by her hostility, but also wanting her to see me as genuine—not trying to flaunt some advantage. It was hard to know what to do.
. . .
I’ve been lucky enough now in my life to meet all sorts of extraordinary and accomplished people—world leaders, inventors, musicians, astronauts, athletes, professors, entrepreneurs, artists and writers, pioneering doctors and researchers. Some (though not enough) of them are women. Some (though not enough) are black or of color. Some were born poor or have lived lives that to many of us would appear to have been unfairly heaped with adversity, and yet still they seem to operate as if they’ve had every advantage in the world. What I’ve learned is this: All of them have had doubters. Some continue to have roaring, stadium-sized collections of critics and naysayers who will shout I told you so at every little misstep or mistake. The noise doesn’t go away, but the most successful people I know have figured out how to live with it, to lean on the people who believe in them, and to push onward with their goals.
. . .
Given my background, reaching was really all I could do.
. . .
There are simply other ways of being.
. . .
This, unfortunately, was the box checker in me. I endured misery for the sake of appearances.
. . .
He wanted to be effective far more than he wanted to be rich but was still trying to figure out how.
. . .
It was one thing to get yourself out of a stuck place, I realized. It was another thing entirely to try and get the place itself unstuck.
. . .
Inspiration on its own was shallow; you had to back it up with hard work.
. . .
We understood, in other words, how ridiculously fortunate we were, and we both felt an obligation not to be complacent.
. . .
This was the call-and-response of democracy, I realized, a contract forged person by person. You show up for us, and we’ll show up for you.
