Liberty & Opportunity go to Harvard
At the end of last week on LinkedIn I saw a post from Paul Johnson entitled Liberty's story, this was about a young lady Liberty King who has one of the most powerful tales of tenacity, persistence, perseverance, resilience and pure grit in overcoming overwhelming odds, while also be driven by a passion to help others that I have not seen in a long time. You can read it for yourself here, my words will not do it justice and will simply fall into insignificance as compared to reading this for yourself.?
As I am sure you will agree, this is a story that is hard not to be moved by, particularly in a day and age when attributes such as tenacity, persistence, perseverance, resilience and an all-consuming desire to succeed, while helping others less fortunate and not just yourself, are in very short supply. What I love about this story is that Liberty King is a shining example of a person who, in very challenging circumstances will just not be beaten, not be a victim of circumstance, not use excuses, will not quit no matter how small the odds and is driven by the passion of her values and commitment, a commitment to be the best person she can be and ultimately a person of values, character and passion to help others find opportunity.
This story resonated with me on a deep personal level, while I will not bore everyone with my own story and challenges at a younger age, I will just say that Liberty and others like her are the reason I am doing what I am doing today, developing a bridge to opportunities for everyone who really wants to get on in life. However, sadly the unfortunate reality in today's society which is why this is so special, is that there is too much talk and not enough action, too much lip service without commitment, too much pontification without a real desire to push through the pain barrier, far to mush disingenuous sentiment, a too greater focus on money for monies sake and frankly, a complete lack of understanding of the mental strength and desire it takes to be a person like Liberty King and succeed against the odds.
Aside from all of the points I have already raised about the character Liberty has shown, the anger and disappointment inside me to see again real world examples of being surrounded by people that could have easily have helped her raise money, people from very wealthy families that no doubt made all the right noises and delivered nothing during her time in later education, a time when when they knew this would be a life changing opportunity for her. How could anyone who was able to provide support and help someone like Liberty fulfill their life potential just do nothing and genuinely live with themselves? I just don't understand, although I am all too familiar with the situation and not naive enough to think it isn't happening every single day all over the World. It is fortunate for Liberty that she had such an amazing Mum to be there to encourage and guide her through challenging times.
After reading this story I contacted Justin King (Liberty's mother) who informed me LinkedIn was her last shot to get this funding, they had done everything, months of work, social media, all other contacts had been tried and now they only have until Friday this week (25th May), Friday being the deadline to secure a bursary for the full amount so that Liberty can complete her educational journey and go onto fulfill her potential at Harvard. Justin and I discussed at length my thoughts and the reasons why we will be providing a full bursary for Liberty this week so that she can cross the finish line, so that she does get the support and respect she deserves and so that she will have that opportunity to go on and fulfill all her potential, going forward to great things and giving others the opportunities in the years ahead that she had to fight so hard for.
On a personal level, I am absolutely committed to my goal of building a highly profitable values based organisation that is here to help people like Liberty get on life. We believe in what we are doing, building an organisation that at the core are deep personal values and a company that will never be given to soulless investors, never sold off at the expense of helping others or allowed to stray away from the fundamental values that I hold dear to my heart.
My committment is to build and develop a values NOT target driven organisation and provide opportunity for everyone REALLY wanting to get on in life, those who show character and commitment not just paying lip service and hoping to get an easy ride. This commitment lives in everything I do.
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Our heartfelt thanks to Paul Johnson for highlighting Liberty's story and giving us the opportunity at exactly the right time, to make Liberty the first recipient of the Temple Brown Opportunity Levy and to see Liberty & Opportunity heading off to Harvard in the very near future!
As Liberty will not be allowed to work while she is in the United States due to Green Cards and other restrictions, any support that people would like to offer to help her become the star that she is clearly destined to be, donations small or large would be very welcome by her and will go directly to Liberty via her Just Giving page.
All that is left to say is to Liberty, make it happen! Good things happen to great people, never quit, never give up, nothing is impossible and always remember that when you are the change you want to see in the World, great things happen!
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Managing Counsel - Litigation and Dispute Resolution at Insperity
6 年She’s going to love Harvard College and reap the benefits of having gone there for the remainder of her career. Sounds very well-deserved. You’re doing good work.