Slightly sad story, but with an upside.

(By way of background, Isaiah is our kid that we rescued from Liberia. He was thirteen when we got him, and had never been to school, so he tested at grade 1.8. Last year, we managed to get him into JobCorps, where he is learning a trade _and_ getting his GED. He is flourishing. On his first visit home, last year, he said "Dad, it's like you've been preparing me for this for the last three years. Everything is all about discipline, attitude, work ethic and respect." This weekend, Isaiah came home for a quick visit, and we drove him back this afternoon) I felt a little bit sorry for Isaiah today. During the afternoon's conversation, he told us that some of his friends at JobCorps said he "wasn't black enough." We were with some friends at the time, and that was summarily and appropriately handled, but then, when we were driving him back to JobCorps, I put Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World on the car stereo. I put it on quietly, so as not to disturb Isaiah and Dustin and Devin's ability to listen to their iPods, but Isaiah asked me to turn it up, explaining that he didn't get a chance to hear music like that any more, and that all he heard at JobCorps was rap. So that was all a bit sad, but the upside is that he is 2nd in charge of his room, and is a "silver" level student. He is really close to "gold" level, and he thinks the only thing stopping him attaining Gold (which implies many more privileges) is that he needs to stick to his studies a bit more. All his teachers tell him the same thing. This is, of course, the hardest stuff for him, but we have told him that it will get easier, the more he does. And, on top of all that, he found a $20 note, and his "friends" wanted him to just spend it. He probably could have, with no repercussions, but he insisted on giving it back to the kid that lost it. We can all be proud of him. Please consider helping us crowd-source our book about his life at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/finding-friday?show_todos=true Thanks in advance, Roger