Tuskegee Experiment

As I have previously mentioned, I bought Tony Dungys new book. I began reading it today, and am already hooked for good. This is one of those books that is easy to read, but takes a while because you want to make notes on everything. While I was reading the book today, there was a particular story that Tony talks about, that I feel everyone can relate with. Halfway through the second chapter entitled "Growing up A Dungy," Tony begins the story. His age of when it took place is not specified, but given the details I believe he was in his teen years. It starts with Tony telling the reader that one day, "he was complaining about the unfairness of life," to his father. It was an incident that had happened to Tony, in which his father had agreed was unfair. Tony states that he cant remember the actual incident, but what his father said next, he would never forget. His father, Dr. Wilbur Dungy, the title he earned after gaining a PhD in physiology at Michigan State University said "When I was in the service, they didn't want to teach us how to fly planes, so we taught ourselves." Dr. Dungy at the time was referring to the African Americans who were enlisted in the service. At the time Tony had no idea what was meant by his fathers remarks, but the message would soon be loud and clear. In Alabama, about forty miles east of Montgomery there is a place called Tuskegee. The town, founded by General Thomas Simpson Woodward in 1833, is named after a local tribe known as the Taskigis. In 1940, Tuskegee would become the training grounds for courageous and determined black pilots, who up to that point had been kept from the freedom of the air. This was known as the Tuskegee Experiment. Tuskegee was the training grounds for nearly a thousand pilots, none of whom were shot down during the WWII bombing runs in Europe, before blacks were fully integrated into military training in 1946. Dr. Wilbur was apart of the Tuskegee Experiment, which wasn't known to Tony until his fathers funeral in 2004. You may wander why a Father would never share something so historical or important with his son, as did Tony. It didn't take him long though to look back and figure that, "maybe it's because he believed the greater point was the lesson." "Whats important is not the accolades and memories of success but the way you respond when opportunities are denied." The lesson that took so long for Tony to know the complete meaning of, was always quite simple. You cant always control circumstances or the decisions that others make or God for that reason, but what you can control is the way you respond with your attitude and approach. Dr. Wilbur could have shared a huge historic event that he took part in with his son, but instead decided to teach his son a lesson that Tony says he uses "daily-and almost minute by minute on game day."