Sonya Carson came from an enormous family of 24 children; She was married at 13 and had two sons. Several years later, she discovered her husband had another family, and the couple split. That left Sonya, a young black woman with a 3^rd grade education, to raise her sons on her own, in 1959. Sonya was nothing if not determined. Often working three jobs, she provided for her children. She pushed them toward excellence. Sometimes, she would quote scripture or poetry to them as a form of encouragement. The following was one such poem.

This is my Word Crush Wednesday quote of the week:

Yourself to Blame
By Mayme White Miller

If things go bad for you-
And make you a bit ashamed,
Often you will find out that
You have yourself to blame…

Swiftly we ran to mischief
And then the bad luck came,
Why do we fault others?
We have ourselves to blame…

Whatever happens to us,
Here are the words to say,
“Had it not been for so-and-so
Things wouldn’t have gone that way”

And when you’re short of friends,
I’ll tell you what to do-
Make an examination,
You’ll find the faults in you…

You’re the captain of your ship,
So agree with the same-
If you travel downward,
You have yourself to blame.

Talk about taking personal responsibility!
Sonya Carson died a few months ago, and you may or may not of heard of her, but if you are living in the United States, I bet you’ve heard of her youngest son. He is a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins University, and is also a presidential hopeful for the 2016 election. His name is Ben Carson.

The poem was used in the introduction (written by Sonya) to Ben Carson’s autobiography: “Gifted Hands”.

Connie