Not having ywo parents makes it difficult, not impossible. I was a single father for 13 years, getting custody of my daughter when she was two. I had a high school education from a high school that was 70 percent minority and taught to the median, not the excetional. I was not well off by any means. I put myself through community college for my associates, then through the College of Engineering at University of Iowa, earning a BS in electrical engineering. I did this because I saw my family work for everythnig they got. We were taught a work ethic and not to rely on anyone, including family. If help came, accept it, but do not rely on it. These are the lessons that are missing in many americans today, a pride in being independent

She would not be the first that did not lear after the first 'lesson', whether it be in formal education or from the school of hard knocks.Would she be a better example had she continued on the same course? Hardly. And when you are born in the middle of a heavy forest, how easy is it to conceive of a world without trees?. It takes time, thought and introspection to change one's course in life. Her story reminds me of an old Irish tale, touch of the master's hand. In it an old violin, battered and scuffed is up for auction. The auctioneer attempt so sell it for a pitance and does not receive much interest, until an olman rises from the back, retrieves the fiddle, tightens the strings and plays a beautiful tune. The fiddle goes on to...

It actually takes some brain cells to defend one's position. "William" apparently is lacking in that department