Hereditary Prejudices

Okay, so my Web Wisdom and Design teacher has assigned us this project to create a blog, post ten times in two weeks, then have people read it and leave comments. I can see that people are reading, but so far I've only accomplished one comment. Do people really have time to do this for someone? Or is it the topics I'm choosing to write about?

I thought I would do something socially conscious and write about things which I've discovered offer me an easier way to understanding what life is all about. I never thought that I could be offending anyone. Am I?

All I can think about today is my life thus far. You know how you go through life visualizing and daydreaming about what it's going to be like when you grow up? Well that life never will exist for you, only reality.

The reality for me is, although I am completely happy and satisfied that I went back to school to finish my degree, it hasn't been easy. I was 24 when I went back and having dreamed all my life of being a mother, I couldn't possibly put off having a child until I was finished school, which would have been anywhere from 5 to 10 years later since I had to work full time as well. A good friend that I worked with who was in her forties and had already had all of her children advised me not to go back to school, that I would just quit. Great advice, I thought to myself--tell someone you care about not to try to go for your dreams because you'll just quit. What kind of a friend was that?

I never thought back to her advice until about six months ago when it suddenly became so much more difficult to go to school, work full time, be a wife and mother to our now three year old, take care of our home, etc. that all I could hear were her echoes in my ear "you're not going to do it, trust me; having a child and school? You'll quit!!!"

But I have to admit that those are the very words that keep me going. And, of course, I can only think of the exact words of Albert Einstein when he said ...

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

It is important for me to state that I don't necessarily agree with everything that Albert Einstein had to say in his life. Like all of us, Albert wasn't perfect either and some of what he said was very isolated and limited in knowledge and wasn't a complete thought, in my opinion. But many, like the one above, was so rich in knowledge, simple yet so expandable, that I have to remember his brain during life's struggles. If it's one thing I can testify to, my entire life has been one hereditary prejudice experience. All my life people have underestimated my ability and intelligence, challenging my intellect at every level. It's not that I'm smarter than anyone else, but there's something about me that makes people think I'm not as there intellectually as I really am. And the first 21 years of my life I really did believe what everyone thought, until I began to use my brain ...

I still have to remind myself regularly that people don't really understand or know me inside and to ignore what comments they make or things that I hear. 99% of what people perceive of others really has to do with themselves anyway. It's not something I ever get used to, I have to go back and re-remind myself over and over. I know that if I let those things begin to creep back in to my persona I will begin to limit myself again. And by limiting, I'll only miss out in life.