I recently attended a dental college graduation to see my young friend Brandon get his diploma. The bulletin mentioned that Brandon was graduating cum laude, first in his class, but gave no information on how Brandon achieved such a splendid honor. Here is the information that was left out.

When he was nine Brandon was taken away from his natural parents and placed up for adoption. Two years after he was adopted, Brandon's adoptive father committed suicide. Brandon's adoptive mother remarried when he was a junior in high school and moved to another state, leaving Brandon to fend for himself with a small Social Security check and a paper route. Despite those circumstances, Brandon went to college on art scholarship and later got into dental college with a military scholarship.

The most incredible part of this story, which was also left out, was Brandon's success strategy. "I always focused on things that were within my power and never worried about the future. When I was in high school I never thought I'd go to college, but I knew I could graduate from high school. I knew it was within my power."

That quotation should have been printed on the graduation bulletin!