Griffin Speaks
The year was 1984, I had just received my second law degree, an LL.M in
Taxation from Boston University School of Law. I was standing in front
of the Wake County Courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina with my father,
when we became engaged in a conversation with an elderly black woman.
My father with great pride quickly told the elderly lady that I was an
attorney with two law degrees. She looked at both of us and quickly informed
us with equal pride that her grandson was a "NOTARY PUBLIC".
My dad looked at me and under his breath asked, "Is she crazy?"
The lady was not crazy. She had long dreamed that one day her grandson would become a notary. To her that was a high accomplishment. She had no idea that all you had to do to become a notary was pay the fee at the courthouse. The grandson was never encouraged to aim higher.
In many cases children are not encouraged to dream or aim for the stars. This must change if we are to move from the bottom of the well in society. I recall the joke about the Jewish mother walking her two sons. A stranger asked her, "how old are your sons?" She responded, "the doctor is three and the lawyer is four." Some groups encourage their children to aim high at a very early age. My parents always encouraged me to aim for the stars.
I recall at the age of nine my family vacationed in Atlanta, Georgia. We visited Morehouse College where my dad told my brother and I that he wanted us to strive to attend college there. It was from that moment on that I set my sights on graduating from Morehouse College.
When you come in contact with children ask them if they have goals. If they don't have any goals then give them some. It takes a village to raise a child.
To achieve success, you should never be guilty of aiming too low. This is what the late Dr. Benjamin Elija Mays, former President of Morehouse College and mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had to say about aiming high. He said: It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. Don't be afraid to dream. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. Reach for the stars. It is not a disgrace to fail to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin."
The greatest gift a parent can give to their African American son is a Morehouse Education. Aim High!
Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous article
by logging on to his web page at www.greggriffin.com
