Liz Murray: Homeless to Harvard

A crazy old gray-haired cat whose sole purpose in life is to destroy my life; a Chinese PhD donkey who thinks I’m not putting enough effort into my work (working till 3:00 a.m. to get things done wasn’t good enough?); an Indian PhD monkey who ridiculed me upon learning of my decision to go for a PhD… Two words for you lot:

BE GONE, you Crazy Old People @ Hopeless Old Men!!!

Okay, nine words, actually- and a comma, an alias sign and three exclamation marks. I changed my mind all in a sudden. I’m sorry I’ve always been the “fickle-minded” person you lot think I am. *sarcasm, sarcasm*

What a blessing and an inspiration you jokers are to the little kids around you with all the many things you’ve achieved in your lives (not).

Let this video be an inspiration to all the oppressed little people of the world:

Executive Summary: Liz Murray

Maximum Impact Simulcast

Leadership That Inspires

May 8, 2009

I grew up with parents who used lots of drugs. They would get their welfare checks, buy drugs,

get high, and then repeat the cycle again. When the welfare money ran out, they would sell

anything, like our television or bicycles, for cash to buy drugs. One year, my mother sold our

Thanksgiving turkey to a neighbor. That’s the nature of addiction; it consumes a person.

When we ran out of welfare check money, we would go days without food. I remember thinking, "Perhaps if I sleep, then I won't be hungry." So I slept a lot. My sister and I would eat ice cubes because at least they felt like food. One time we even split a tube of toothpaste.

There are benefits in growing up how I did. One lesson I learned is that my life is my

responsibility. No one owes me anything.

There are gifts and blessings that we can look for and find in our past—just as we can choose to look back on our faults. What we look for depends on where our hearts are.

Each of us knows, in the deepest part of heart, the life we were created to live.

I used to visit my mom in the hospital for five hours at a time. I would brush her hair and clumps would come off in my hand. When that became too painful, I promised to come back “later.”

When I heard she had died, I realized that we are not promised “laters.”

Disempowered people blame and concern themselves with the past. Empowered people look

forward to what’s next and refuse to point fingers.

What transforms a life? One empowered choice after another.