Protecting the Vulnerability of the Young
By Kathy In Student Success Stories, Vulnerability On August 31, 2015
My granddaughter is quite brilliant. (What am I saying, all of my grandchildren are brilliant!) This particular granddaughter, however, was recently recognized for her brilliance. She was invited to and attended The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists Congress. You don’t just sign up for that; she made the cut as a freshman in high school.
She has expressed an interest in neonatal care and I’ve always known her to be in love with babies, so it made sense to me that she would be interested in a career where she’d get to be with them.
After she attended the congress, she got comments on her Facebook page. It seemed to me that many commentators assumed she’d made up her mind about her career path. When I put myself in her place, it felt like a lot of pressure to put on someone who is only 15-years-old. I wrote the following response and asked her If I could publish it on Facebook. She gave me permission.
Everyone is aware of your successes especially with the Congress. Just remember, you don’t have to make any commitments because others think you have already decided. You only decided you wanted to go to the congress to check it out; that’s what you are supposed to be doing at this stage of your life. I’m not suggesting you should malinger; I’m saying that this is your time to explore. I’m at a stage of my life that I’m no longer needing to find what to do; my challenge is finding ways to leave my legacy. Lives have beginnings and endings; yours is at the beginning. Any decisions you make, you will have to live with, but you shouldn’t have to make those kinds of decisions already. As a matter of fact, making premature decisions will give you a doozy of mid-life crises. I’m proud to be your grandmother because of what you’ve achieved. Your getting nominated and going to the congress is an enormous accomplishment. Think of it as something that has already been done; the choices for your future are still yours.
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