I'm volunteering at this illiteracy program and I met the sweetest lady in the world today. She's 62 and doesn't know how to read. Her husband of 16 years is mentally disabled and he's also in the program. By the looks of this woman, you would never ever know that she couldn't read. She's a jazzy miss thang and pretty alert if you ask me, she's not "slow" by a long shot. Anyhow as I attempted to tutor this young lady, I realized her illiteracy was far more deeper than not comprehending or understanding something. You see, she's been living with these limitations that everyone has put on her. She stressed to me that her mother has been calling her slow and people has been ridiculing her every since she was a little girl. The part that cut me so deeply is.....SHE STILL BELIEVES THESE THINGS TO BE TRUE!!!! She's been living with these same excuses all of her life. I.E "My mama said I'll never get it", "I was learning it when i was little and after my tutor died, I stopped learning", "My aunt still calls me slow", "I couldn't make it to the program because of the weather".
Your mind is only gonna believe what you feed it, rather right or wrong good or bad; it doesn't know the difference. After listening to all of her excuses I realized that this is a waste of my time and I have no clue where to start with this woman because I can't just touch the surface, the basics.Its far greater than her illiteracy. It's her belief. And as cliche as this thing sounds, it truly is about what you believe to be true about yourself. She has to stop believing these lies.
All her life she has been living by what the next person thinks. She put both of her children in a home because "they" said it was best. She still looks for her mother's approval and until this very day her mother tells her that "she cannot do it, she's slow"
If anyone is reading this message please hear me out. STOP LOOKING FOR OTHER PEOPLE VALIDATIONS AND FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!! STOP WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO TELL YOU TO MAKE THAT MOVE AND PICK UP THE PIECES TO YOUR LIFE AND DO YOU!!!
Can you imagine being 62 years old and living with the same excuses that you did when you were 32?
At the end of the day all of these people telling this lady what she cannot do, who's the one that can't read? She's responsible regardless. Oh and her husband is mentally challenged but sharp as a whistle. He knows exactly what's going on in the world. I have such great respect for him because everything truly is a state of mind and he's very stable and alert. So when you see someone who's mentally challenged, don't be so quick to judge, they're smarter than you think.
~Embrace Life with Ambition
