| He sat in the hallway of the hospital and heard on | | | | discovering galaxies, and looking through microscopes. |
| the PA system, "Dr. Jones, Dr. Jones to the | | | | He learned so much it was exciting! He could actually |
| emergency room." In that moment, he decided that, | | | | start imagining a different life for himself. Benjamin |
| one day, they would be saying, "Dr. Carson" through | | | | didn't want to just get out of school, he wanted to |
| those speakers. So, he held on to his dream, in spite | | | | live his dream and be a scientist or a physician. If he |
| of his poor performance in school. | | | | could dream it, he could achieve it. In only one and a |
| In the fifth grade, he failed almost every subject. | | | | half years he moved from being the worst student in |
| When Benjamin brought his report card home, his | | | | class to the best student. |
| mother saw the grades and she was horrified | | | | He knew that he could achieve whatever he put his |
| because she didn't want her sons to end up like she | | | | mind to, based on the choices he made and the |
| was. She decided to limit the amount of television her | | | | energy he put in. He found the power to change his |
| sons watched, and instead put her them on her own | | | | life and it changed the way he saw the world. "You |
| reading program, telling them they had to read two | | | | do have the possibility of controlling your own |
| books from the Detroit Public Library and submit a | | | | destiny if you are willing to put in the appropriate |
| report to her. Each report she received she'd put a | | | | amount of time and effort." |
| check mark on. They didn't know it then, but their | | | | So Think Big. |
| mother couldn't even read the reports they | | | | T Talent & Time: Recognize them as gifts. |
| wrote--that's probably why it was so important to | | | | H Hope & Honesty. |
| her to make sure her sons could! | | | | I Insight from experience. |
| Benjamin stayed in the house and read books while | | | | N Be Nice to all people. |
| his friends were outside playing. It was torment to | | | | K Knowledge: Recognize it as the key to living. |
| hear them all out there having so much fun, he hated | | | | B Books: Read them actively. |
| it at first. Then, one day he started to enjoy what | | | | I In-depth learning skills: Develop them. |
| he was reading, because for the first time in his life, | | | | G Dr. Carson's "G" is for God. Everyone has their own |
| he could go anyplace, be anybody, and do anything, | | | | beliefs. When you THINK BIG, what does the "G" |
| between the covers of a book. It didn't matter that | | | | stand for in your life? |
| his family had no money. He was empowered by his | | | | Benjamin graduated from high school and went on to |
| books. So, he began to use his imagination and | | | | Yale and medical school, becoming Director of |
| started turning letters into words, and words into | | | | Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in |
| sentences, and sentences into concepts. The more | | | | Baltimore at the age of 32. In 1987, he performed an |
| he did, the better his imagination got. | | | | operation on conjoined twins and successfully |
| He read about people in labs pouring chemicals, | | | | separated them. |
| watching steam rise, making electrical circuits, | | | | |