This is a true biography of Liz Murray, the heroine of the movie "Stormy Harvard Road", because I love this movie too much, so I found a book to read, and this book made me more aware of the greatness of education.
Lisa's mother is beautiful and stylish, but she is an addict, a prostitute, a psychopath, and an AIDS patient.
Lisa's father is tall and handsome, loves to read, but is also a recluse, and even more gay, and eventually reduced to a tramp.
Lisa spent her childhood in a drug, AIDS, and hunger-filled environment, and her dirty clothes at school and the lice hidden in her hair made her ridiculed by her classmates, so she often skipped class, fought, stole things, and was a real bad student.
At the age of 9, he began to work in a supermarket, refueling gas stations to earn his living expenses and keep himself from starvation.
Later, with some friends of the same age, she and her friends lived on the streets, picking up garbage, stealing things, at that time her accommodation was in various friends' homes, and everything she did had only one purpose, to keep herself alive.
What made her go from slum girl to Harvard student?
A: Life is forced.
Her mother is dead, her father is gone, her sister is separated from her, her friends won't pay her rent forever, she has to think about the future, how she can save up to pay the rent.
At 17, she wanted to change her destiny through education, so she set her sights on New York's unconventional high school, a private school open to those motivated to learn.
At prep school, she told Perry her story, and Perry listened carefully, not out of pity, and without any intention of evaluation, but only understanding and interest.
After listening to her story, Perry told her: You should understand that you can make a choice.
Before that, Liz had never thought that she also had choices and the possibility of change.
Her family and her neighbors, whose pace of life depends on current needs — hunger for heating, rent and electricity bills — are always most concerned with how to address the most urgent needs of the moment, never focusing on noble long-term plans.
They don't know how many years it will take to go to school to change their situation, to have a saving car or their own house, and they don't know how to get a long-term job.
This is probably the voyeuristic effect mentioned in the book "Scarcity": for those who are still struggling on the subsistence line, they are always solving the current dilemma, and those who have a future will think about the future.
Later, she had the privilege of being exposed to the life of a rich man, and she knew for the first time: the suburban neighborhoods were so charming, the houses were so luxurious, and the air conditioning was so cool. She was determined to get out of the slums, she wanted to see what her education could bring her, and she wanted to know what possibilities were in her life.
During school, she had nowhere to live, sleeping in the park, on the subway, in the attic of a friend's house; she spent all her time studying in the subway station and corridors, and she completed 4 years of courses in 2 years and won a First Class Scholarship from the New York Times.
Many people admire her for having the perseverance to continue to read in that environment, and think that she is a person with strong self-control.
But she says willpower is one thing, and more so she's motivated enough to have a desire for a new life. She had seen the beauty of the world and knew she had to make a difference, which was the most important reason she could lift her blanket in the morning and walk to school.
When you think clearly about the meaning of doing this, your inner desire is strong enough, that is the reason why you abandon everything and insist on doing it.
As for why she succeeded, I think the following points are very important:
1st: Her parents loved her very much, although they could not give her a brocade and food, but they loved her very much, often saying to her: Liz I love you, you are my little baby, because she is loved, so her heart is full of security.
No. 2: The teachers at the preparatory school spoke highly of her and solved her confusion about her studies, urging her to continue to study, which made her regain her self-confidence.
#3: Her friends gave her a lot of shelter, and when she was homeless, she would sometimes spend the night at a friend's house.
Number 4: She's smarter because she can get into high school just because she needs to go to class every time, which shows that her IQ is still very good. But no matter how smart you are, without hard work, Harvard will never be admitted.
#5: Her determination to change the status quo, her perseverance.
Think about your life? Do you have a dream that you have always wanted to fulfill, and have you continued to make an effort?
The author tells us that if you are unwavering in your commitment to a goal and work on it every morning as soon as you wake up, it has the potential to change your life.
My goal is to keep reading books, keep sharing books, and one day in the future to be able to publish my own books, which is also the underlying goal of my persistence in sharing, pay attention to me, and take you to interpret every good book.
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