When I was younger I wanted to go to Harvard, that was my dream. Unfortunately, I was discouraged when I found out how much it cost to attend. However, that didn’t stop Selamawi Asgedom from not only attending Harvard, but getting a full-ride there. Growing up as a refugee in America, Mawi had to overcome many obstacles such as the appeal of stealing, the alienation from bullies, and the struggles of poverty, which then motivated him to work for what he wanted.
The philosophy that if a person steals something small once, then the next thing that the person takes will be bigger, and then the stealing will escalate from there can be painfully correct. However, in some cases it can open a person’s eyes and tell them that what they are doing is …show more content…
However, it can be especially hard when someone is bullied for something that they cannot change about themselves, like their skin color, or where a they came from. Mawi and his siblings were discriminated against many times during their school years in America. The siblings were bullied for being refugees “‘It was even worse for my sister Mulu, who had to brave high school all by herself. Her classmates drew skeletons on her locker and even serenaded her with the popular famine fundraising song, ‘We Are The World’” (37). Mawi describes in this quote from his book, Of Beetles and Angels, that he and his brother may have had it bad, but his sister had it much worse. Ignorant peers had alienated the Asgedom children by calling them names such as “African-boodie scratcher” and telling Mawi, Tewolde, and Mulu to go back to where they came from. Nevertheless, the bullying from their peers only made Mawi and his siblings stronger, and he used that strength and his father’s wisdom to see the beauty in others. In Mawi’s Harvard graduation speech he claims that “Any one of us, however small and helpless we may feel, can spark unimagined changes. Today’s small act of kindness can become tomorrow’s whirlwind of human progress” (Epilogue). Instead of seeing the negative side of people, Mawi chose to see the positive. By doing that he was not only able to see beauty, but he was able to …show more content…
Mawi’s parents told him that in order to go to college he would have to get ahead of his peers and earn a scholarship. Haileab, Mawi’s father, told him “‘YOU ARE POOR AND BLACK AND WE CANNOT BUY YOU THE RESOURCES THAT OTHER PARENTS CAN. BUT IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH DESIRE TO OUTWORK ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS AND NEVER GIVE UP, YOU WILL WIN THE RACE ONE DAY’” (33). Haileab told his son what he was up against and how to meet that challenge. If a person is told that despite their obstacles they can prevail, then they will believe that they can flourish. The same is true that if you tell someone that because of their hardships they will fail, then they will conclude that they can not succeed. Mawi wrote, in his book, that “I have graduated from college one year ago and have since thought much about my parents’ dream. By earning my scholarship and graduating, I have fulfilled it” (134). Mawi’s parents told him that he could achieve anything that he desired, and by doing that, Tsege and Haileab Asgedom inspired their son to do his best and thus prove to the people that claimed he would not succeed in America, that he
The philosophy that if a person steals something small once, then the next thing that the person takes will be bigger, and then the stealing will escalate from there can be painfully correct. However, in some cases it can open a person’s eyes and tell them that what they are doing is …show more content…
However, it can be especially hard when someone is bullied for something that they cannot change about themselves, like their skin color, or where a they came from. Mawi and his siblings were discriminated against many times during their school years in America. The siblings were bullied for being refugees “‘It was even worse for my sister Mulu, who had to brave high school all by herself. Her classmates drew skeletons on her locker and even serenaded her with the popular famine fundraising song, ‘We Are The World’” (37). Mawi describes in this quote from his book, Of Beetles and Angels, that he and his brother may have had it bad, but his sister had it much worse. Ignorant peers had alienated the Asgedom children by calling them names such as “African-boodie scratcher” and telling Mawi, Tewolde, and Mulu to go back to where they came from. Nevertheless, the bullying from their peers only made Mawi and his siblings stronger, and he used that strength and his father’s wisdom to see the beauty in others. In Mawi’s Harvard graduation speech he claims that “Any one of us, however small and helpless we may feel, can spark unimagined changes. Today’s small act of kindness can become tomorrow’s whirlwind of human progress” (Epilogue). Instead of seeing the negative side of people, Mawi chose to see the positive. By doing that he was not only able to see beauty, but he was able to …show more content…
Mawi’s parents told him that in order to go to college he would have to get ahead of his peers and earn a scholarship. Haileab, Mawi’s father, told him “‘YOU ARE POOR AND BLACK AND WE CANNOT BUY YOU THE RESOURCES THAT OTHER PARENTS CAN. BUT IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH DESIRE TO OUTWORK ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS AND NEVER GIVE UP, YOU WILL WIN THE RACE ONE DAY’” (33). Haileab told his son what he was up against and how to meet that challenge. If a person is told that despite their obstacles they can prevail, then they will believe that they can flourish. The same is true that if you tell someone that because of their hardships they will fail, then they will conclude that they can not succeed. Mawi wrote, in his book, that “I have graduated from college one year ago and have since thought much about my parents’ dream. By earning my scholarship and graduating, I have fulfilled it” (134). Mawi’s parents told him that he could achieve anything that he desired, and by doing that, Tsege and Haileab Asgedom inspired their son to do his best and thus prove to the people that claimed he would not succeed in America, that he