I remember having a discussion with a friend of mine. He was aware of my childhood desire to go to college and study law. He was also aware that I had the chops to do so but did not have the money.
This was when Sonia Sotomayor was being confirmed as an Associate Justice to the United States Supreme Court. A great deal of press was given to her backstory regarding how she was admitted to Princeton because of Affirmative Action on scholarship. This friend asked me, because we were of a similar age, if I was jealous of her.
Here is my answer:
I was an overweight, underachieving, naïve white male from Northern California. No one was going to reach out to lift me up. It was up to me to do it myself; not the least of which was to figure out what I needed to do. When Sonia came around, there was a lifeboat floating near Sonia and she got on it. And like the Titanic, there were not enough lifeboats or enough seats. I do not envy her that spot on that boat – it wasn’t floating by me.
