Ben Carson
By Jiovany Reyes, HMP
“Do your best and let God do the rest.” ~ Ben Carson
Early Life
On September 16, 1951, in Detroit, Michigan,
one of the greatest minds in history was born,
Benjamin Solomon Carson. Ben's early life
was difficult, growing up in the hardened
climate of inner-city Detroit .
After his parents divorced, Ben and his brother were
raised by their mother, Sonya Carson. The family was
very poor and his mother had three jobs just to make
ends meet. However, Sonya taught her boys that
anything was possible.
The Dream Begins
Every time the Carson family went to the hospital they would wait a
long time to be seen by the interns. As they waited to be seen, Ben
would listen to the pulse of the hospital as doctors and nurses went
about their routines. He would hear doctors’ names being called over
the PA system and fantasized that one day they’d be calling for a “Dr.
Carson.”
A Rough Road Ahead
Dr. Carson's Interview
Both Ben and his brother experienced difficulty in school. Ben developed a
violent and uncontrollable temper, and was known to attack other children at the
slightest provocation. The poverty he lived in coupled with his difficulty in
school made his anger issues worse. However, his mother did not give up. She
was determined to turn her sons around. She was criticized for this by her
friends, who said the boys would grow up hating her. But she was determined
her sons would have greater opportunities than she did.
Within a year, Ben Carson was amazing his teachers and classmates
with his academic improvement. He began to realize he wasn’t stupid.
Before long he was at the top of his class. However, Ben still had a
terrible temper. Terrified by his own actions, he started praying asking
God to help him find a way to deal with his temper. He found
salvation in the book of Proverbs in a passage that went, “ Better a
patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one
who takes a city.”
His Career Begins…..
Ben graduated with Honors from high school, he knew he
wanted to pursue a medical career. But he wasn’t financially
well off, Carson had to work his way through college. From his
work and a scholarship, he attended Yale University and earned
a B.A. degree in psychology.
After graduating from Yale in 1973, Carson enrolled in the
University of Michigan School of Medicine, choosing to
become a neurosurgeon. In 1975 he married Candy Rustin
whom he met at Yale. He earned his medical degree and
moved to Baltimore , where he became a resident at John
Hopkins.
Highlights of his Career
• Full time professor of Neurosurgery , Oncology, Plastic Surgery, and
Pediatrics at John Hopkins Hospital
• Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the John Hopkins Children’s Center
• First Successful separation of craniopagus twins
• 2001 CNN and Time magazine named Carson as one of the Nation’s 20
most foremost physicians and scientists
• 2001 Library of Congress selected him as one of 89 “Living Legends”
• 2006 NAACP’s Spingarn Medal
• 2008 President Bush awarded Carson the Lincoln Theatre Medal
• 2008 Presidential Medal of Freedom – U.S. Highest Civilian honor
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Newscast
• “Success is determined not by whether or not you face obstacles, but by
your reaction to them. And if you look at these obstacles as a containing
fence, they become your excuse for failure. If you look at them as a
hurdle, each one strengthens you for the next.”
• “God has given us more than fourteen billion cells and connections in
our brain. Why would God give us such a complex organ system unless
he expects us to use it?”
• “Everyone in the world is worth being nice to. Because God never
creates inferior human beings, each person deserves respect and
dignity.”
• “If we acknowledge our need for God, He will help us.”
THINK BIG !!