I shall allow no man to belittle

my soul by making me hate him.

                         Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington was born into a Virginia slave family in 1856.  He not only became educated, he devoted his life to education, becoming the head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

We might think Washington would have been justified in becoming an embittered man.  Indeed, his family was “owned.”  The concept of how that feels is beyond the understanding of most of us.

However, we all have the power to decide how we will react to any situation.  Washington, obviously, used his power to decide he was of value to the world, and he lived a life manifesting that value.  He overcame what could be considered one of life’s worst situations, and he proved the situation of slavery did not make him who he was or who he would become.

We all have the same power that Washington displayed.  We can bring ourselves up from the slavery of limitation and accomplish anything we want.  Only we can decide what that is.

Washington wrote an autobiography entitled Up From Slavery in 1901.

We hope your attitude is one of empowerment,

Lana Keating