Dr. Benjamin Carson: Integrity, Candor and One Wrong Idea

On Thursday, March 27, 2003, Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr. addressed the opening general session of the National Science Teachers’ Association’s national convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It was my introduction to a man who has been much in the news lately.  I am pleased to say I knew him, “when.” 

            Let me backtrack just long enough to say that my husband and I were both science teachers (I at the elementary level, Tom in Junior High).  We were active in the National Science Teachers Association and attended one regional and the national convention each year.  We have seen a host of great speakers: Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Mae Jemison, Richard Leaky…the list goes on.  Dr. Carson stands out for two reasons.  First, no one can fail to be inspired by his message of success in the face of adversity.  Second, this man has one standard of honesty and he sticks by it, no matter who his audience is.  That is courage. 

Dr. Carson learned discipline at his mother’s knee.  This man who is a world class neurosurgeon was an indifferent and moody student through elementary school.   His single mother (a real parent, not just an egg donor) shut off the television and required him to read and produce written reports on two books a week!

I can hear it now:  “Nobody else has to do this.” 

“You’re ruining my life!”

“You don’t understand.”

“When will I ever need this stuff?” 

And the ever popular…“I hate you!”

            Anyone who has had to discipline a child knows there must have been an interesting interlude in the family confines—that is—until Little Ben started seeing results.  He ended up graduating high school with honors and went on to Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School.  Carson became a specialist in pediatric neurosurgery.  He was the youngest major division director at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.   

Clearly, Dr. Carson has credentials that will get him into anyone’s front parlor.  I am sure that President Obama’s West Wing staff, all of whom are short on humility and long on bias, assumed that Benjamin Solomon Carson would be a, “safe” bet at the National Prayer Breakfast.  These fools, never eager to do any serious homework, probably judged Carson on his color.  Here was a black, Detroit born son of a single mother.  They assumed he would be solidly in their camp, spouting nothing but the party line.  They were so very wrong, but they should have seen him in Philadelphia!

At the NSTA convention, years before he became a household word, Dr. Carson spoke of his background, his success, his analytical work in separating conjoined twins, joined at the back of the head in a procedure previously though impossible.  Then, in a simple segue, this man told an auditorium full of science teachers that he simply did not believe in evolution!

Now, let me make this as clear as I can.  Evolution is a fact.  There are tomes full of empirical evidence that prove it has and continues to be a major force in the physical world.  Dr. Carson is wrong on this one idea, but the point is, he didn’t mind stating his position in front of an audience that believed the opposite.  Ben Carson has courage beyond measure and intelligence to match.  He didn’t mind telling the NSTA what he thought, he didn’t mind telling the Obama administration what he thought and I can’t wait to hear what he has to say next. 

Speak your mind and keep the faith.