Youth Voices: What am I doing here? Researching purple lottery tickets.

When I was little, one of my favorite things to do while riding in the car was to create wildly outlandish stories about the people I could see outside my window. That lady with a baseball cap and a poodle? She had just returned from the international poodle breeders conference in France where she met a famous American baseball player. They fell in love on the 13th floor of the Eifel Tower and plan to return in six months for their honeymoon.

Though I don't make up stories like I used to, I never outgrew my fascination with people and my desire to understand them. On my way to work this week, I passed Pasos De Fe Iglesia Christiana, a church with chipping blue paint and litter that fills the gaps in the crumbling sidewalk. A line of families wrapped around the exterior as tired feet shuffled inside for fellowship and a free meal. I found myself wondering what today's chapter of their life would look like.

I am a firm believer that everyone gets to choose how they tell their story but we don't always get to choose what goes into it.

The "birth lottery" refers to the idea that individuals have no control over the family and socioeconomic background into which they are born. People have the power to shape their destiny to some extent but the reality remains that many aspects of life, such as family size, socioeconomic status, location, and sex are beyond anyone's control...[CONTINUE READING]