After some consideration I have my own question. Why NOT me?
I come from a small town in the middle of no where, unless you went to one of the colleges near by, bought a piece of Steuben Glass, happen to be an expert on Mark Twain, or ever happened to Google where Correll Wear comes from, you've probably never heard of it. You've probably never given much thought, and you may never even give the area I grew up in another thought after reading this.
All and all pretty unremarkable, pretty normal, pretty vanilla, and so much like many other small towns all over American. One could guess a town that has been considered a "depressed area" for sometime, maybe there isn't a lot going on. So maybe it's not a town where you expect really amazing people to out of. But you'd be wrong... below is a list of some pretty well known people who I share an area code with
Eileen Collins- First Female Space Shuttle Comander
Ernie Davis - First African American to win the Heisman, NFL Player
Carl Sagan-Astronomer, Cornell Professor, NASA Consultant (and author of one of my favorite books of all time Contact)
Brian Williams- NBC News Anchor, Nightly News w/Brian Williams, Rock Center (he's no Matt Lauer but he's still awesome!)
Tommy Hilfiger- Noted Fashion Designer
Joey Sindelar- PGA Golfer
Mark Twain-if you don't know who Mark Twain that's just sad (and maybe not necessarily from my area code but he spent a lot of time there so it counts!)
Kirt Manwaring- MLB Player
Dustin Brown - NHL Player, Los Angeles Kings
Rod Serling- Ithaca College (my alma matter) Professor, Emmy Award Winning Television Producer/Writer -The Twilight Zone (fine he was born in Syracuse but Ithaca claims him as their own)
Molly Huddle- US Track and Field
(on a personal note) The the "607" also boasts a member of the 2011 NCA National Championship DII Cheerleading Team, and a 5 Time NCAA All American Gymnast, and (two really excellent ladies that I'm proud to know)
And whole host of other people who's names we probably don't know yet (maybe even one of those names will be mine) the point is any one can become something better than what they were before.
All these people came from humble beginnings, working from towns in the middle of nowhere, and maybe they aren't in the 1%, maybe they aren't the people that society seems to be holding on a pedestal these days, and maybe somedays when things were hard, they (like so many seem to do) asked why me? But if they can overcome obstacles, injuries, everyone telling them they can't because of race, or gender or anything else that might have stopped them, why can't I? Why can't you?
Everything for me is about to change again, and I'm sure somedays I'll ask myself what the hell, why aren't things working out for me? But I think I'll use this list to remind me that the real question isn't "why me?" the real question is "Why NOT me?" if all these other people from my hometown can do it, can be better, can make it, "Why NOT me?"
Why not me indeed?
