To me, it is also a story of human potential. Although I don’t know for sure what released the potential in my friend, I suspect it was a high school English teacher we had.

The power in releasing our potential often comes in the form of someone who believes in us. Dr. Ruiz seems to have had an entire town of somebodies who believed in him!

I have a dear lifelong friend who came from a very broken and dysfunctional home in my own hometown. In trouble in high school, goof off, poor grades,party boy. But with tons of grit. I always knew he had something many weren’t seeing.

We were shocked at his SAT scores. They were high. He just wasn’t applying himself in school. He couldn’t get into the college he wanted to attend because of his grades.

Something changed in him his senior year in high school and he became a young man on a mission to work in the field of medicine. He decided to “convince” the college of his choice to accept him conditionally (that he got good grades etc.). They did. They weren’t sorry.

His freshman year in college, he published a book (another shock for his hometown friends), and began his major in pre-med. He spent his summers delivering babies for the poorest of the poor in Africa. He went on to medical school, and came back to practice medicine in Michigan.

He remains an inspiration for me, in a different way than Dr. Ruiz, but in some ways the same. He shows that we can overcome our background and upbringing to make a difference in the world. He continues to practice medicine and has deep conviction and morals. Without going into detail, he is giving back and making a difference, and always on the lookout for new ways he can do so.