From the homeless shelter to college

Here’s another story with the occasional question I pose, for which there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer.

What is it that makes some people thrive, and others in the same situation fail?

PBS NewsHour tells the story of Rashema Melson, whose father was killed when she was 7 months old, and who spent much of her high school years in a homeless shelter.

“I still see that picture in my head of me having my own house, and having my degrees on the wall, having a job to go to from 9:00 to 5:00, having a consistent paycheck, paying my own bills, and just being — being the woman that I always — I always wanted to be,” she says.