I know a fellow whose life was changed by Newfoundland joining Canada in 1949. George was living with "an aunt" and was in grade 3. His mother had died and his father worked in the woods. He decided he did not like school and quit school. That year the RCMP took over policing in Grand Falls and started checking on kids who should be in school. They found George and sent him back to school. He did well in school and was taken under a special teacher's wing. He worked in the paper mill when he was only sixteen to make some money. He told me he saw the empty faces of the men who had sent their lives in that hot machine room and vowed he would not work in the mill even though the pay was very good. He got a great scholarship to take engineering and went on to form a very successful consulting firm in Newfoundland.
Isn't it amazing how the timing of confederation made a huge difference his life?
How many of us have similar stories about circumstances made a huge difference in our lives?
The book, Outliers, has me thinking about how difference circumstances and our cultural legacy shapes our lives.
