Everything has a beginning. When I was a child, and, I’ll admit even now, I read comic books. I remember going to the grocery store with my grandmother and seeing the spinning rack filled with comic books. It was the array of different, bright colors that first drew me to them.
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The Beginning Of Everything
They were all there, Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. My brother and I would ask our grandmother if we could buy one. “Only one,” she would say. Spider-Man was my favorite, and my brother always bought Batman. I would read it cover to cover engrossed in their super-heroic adventures.
I was always curious as to how they began their lives as superheroes. As I got older, I sought out the origin stories. Some characters were ordinary people until an event happened that changed them. The character, Peter Parker, was a high school student. One day he was bitten by a radioactive spider on a field trip. That bite gave him powers and turned him into Spider-Man.
For Peter, the powers were both a blessing and a curse. As he was trying to navigate life as a high school student, he now took on the additional responsibility of fighting crime. His powers became an extra burden for him. The one thing that his powers couldn’t provide was a salary.

Wealth And Success
When I first began reading comics, the superhero characters were already established. I saw them as they were, not as who they were before that significant event. It is how we see people today. I don’t believe wealth is the only measuring stick of success. With that being said, wealth is an easy way to demonstrate success. I will assume that at some point, wealthy people had a goal of becoming wealthy. Their goal was achieved, which would equal success.
Everything has a beginning. We see people as they are today, the wealthy are already wealthy. Unless we knew them when they started their business or launched their career, we don’t know what they were like. Did they come from wealth, or did they build it?
We see the people that seek the spotlight. They love to be in the public eye. They are on TV being interviewed, and the paparazzi seek them out. Just like the superheroes, I read about, I want to know what they were like before they got in the public eye. Were they just normal people like you and me?
Harry Potter Origin
Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling worked a series of jobs including, researcher and schoolteacher before she published her first book. She conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990. Mostly writing in longhand, scribbling on scraps of paper, she mapped out the series over the next five years.
Rowling trained as a teacher and began teaching in Edinburgh after she gave birth to her daughter. Her marriage only lasted a little over a year. Taking on the duties of a single mother and schoolteacher, she continued to write whenever she could find a moment. Her manuscript was rejected 12 times before the original was published in June 1997. Everything has a beginning that looks much different now, including famous authors.
Finger Lickin Good
Harland Sanders is better known as Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. His father died when he was six years old, and he became responsible for taking care of his younger brother and sister. At an early age, he held down numerous jobs including farmer, streetcar conductor, and salesman.
At the age of 40, while running a service station, he began cooking and feeding travelers. His famous chicken recipe was born. At the age of 62, Sanders began franchising his chicken business. In 1964, he had more than 600 franchised outlets and sold his interest in the company for $2 million, which was a lot of money then. Everything has a beginning, and it is never too late to start.
Cites
“J.K. Rowling.” Https://Www.jkrowling.com/about/, https://www.jkrowling.com.
“Colonel Harland Sanders.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 24 Apr. 2020, https://www.biography.com/business-figure/colonel-harland-sanders.
Scott, I read with interest your discussion of comic books. When I was nine or ten, I used to walk to the drug store and buy Illustrated Classics. They had a comic book format and were my introduction to a lot of classic literature. The comic books of your childhood are now valuable collectibles. Did you keep any of them? Aside from being great reading practice and entertainment, the comics stirred our imaginations and helped to form our values. Too bad they sometimes didn’t get the respect they deserved!
When I was about ten, I began reading many biographies. I still find biographies and biographical videos interesting and enlightening. Thanks for the information about Sanders and Rowling.
Happy 2022! 🙂
My grandparents also had a stack of Illustrated Classics. I would read them every time I would visit. I still have a love of classic literature. I still have some of my old comics but I wouldn’t sell them.
Biographies are also some of my favorites.
Great visuals Scott and love how you tied all of this together in an uplifting post!
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Thank you, Cindy. Your encouragement keeps me going. 🤗
Of course.. Awwww it’s a pleasure!
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