Mama O’Neal and Me

I’m sitting here reading Newsweek, with an essay by Lucille O’Neal, who you may only know from her famous son, Shaquille. I have to recommend this article to you. It may interest to you to know that in several ways, her story is mine. Now, my son might be a  mere five inches shorter than Shaq, and I may be 15 years younger than his mom. I may have grown up white and middle class and my son, well, my son doesn’t play basketball. But there are similarities to our stories, and her essay touched me, and made me think a lot about self-esteem and mentoring others. I applaud Lucille O’Neal and am grateful to her for telling her story.