Not long ago, one of my childhood friends said: “I am going to tell you something. Your mom always told us that we were not to help you out. And that really hurt. We saw it was hard for you, but we did not help.” “My mom said that?” “Yes, she said that you had to learn how to get by.” And it was good. The harder my life got, the stronger I felt I was to move forward. I really did learn to get by.