The Invulnerable Child and the Nobel Prize--Where's the Connection?
Parents today are keenly aware of how important early environment is determining a child's future development. They rightly put in lots of time and effort into providing the caring environment that children need if they are to flourish.
But, as always, there are exceptions to the rule. A few decades back, James Anthony, a child psychiatrist, focused on the exceptions when he proposed the idea of the "invulnerable child." Here he was referring to the small, but amazing group of children who are raised by mentally ill mothers. While most of their peers in comparable situations suffer greatly, these children end up as super-competent. Their resilience is remarkable and like the Cinderella story, it gives hope that we can overcome what appears to be an awful destiny.
Last week, we saw a real life version of the story in one of the men who are awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. His name is Mario Capecchi.
In 1941, when he was 4 years of age, the Gestapo came and took his mother to the Dachau concentration camp. He ended up on the streets of a town in northern Italy where he survived by joining a band of urchins who arranged any and all ways to steal food. Then he landed in a hospital where his daily ration was a piece of bread and some chicory coffee. The hardship was overwhelming. By a miracle, his mother survived Dachau and after the war ended, found her son. He then came to the United States where he relied on beating up other children because that was what he knew how to do.
Eventually his brilliance was revealed and he was able to go off to university. The rest, as they say is history. There are lots of places to go to on the net to find out more about this "invulnerable child." Not only did he overcome unbelievable adversity, but he has contributed to humanity so as to enhance the lives of his fellow human beings. It's a story that is worth pursuing and worth telling.
