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March 30, 2008

Today's general session speaker was 'the' Sydney Poitier. The Academy Award winning and knighted actor told his life-story with a series of 12 'snapshots'. Mr. Poitier success in life didn't come easy, but he was grateful to the many diverse people that helped him along the way. He told a very captivating story starting with his pre-mature birth in Florida and largely culminating with his arrival in Hollywood. He recognized the contributions that others made, from his mother who raised him with a firm hand (WAP! WAP! discipline) to a charitable New York Policeman that helped him find a tempory home and the waiter that helped him learn to read. I'll have to read his book The Measure of a Man : A Spiritual Autobiography, but based on his statements of growing up on a 'semi-primitive' island in the Bahamas to signing up to join the Army in at 16, I don't believe Mr. Poitier had much in the way of a formal eduction. Even at 80 years young and having a very successful life, he feels 'the best may be yet to come'.

Posted by Tom Reed, Blog Team, at 10:38 AM | General Session Speakers

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