"How would a Christian Scientist feel about the handicapped?" my friend asked. She had just finished working at a summer camp for the physically and mentally handicapped, and we were spending a few days together before school started.
I kept turning the question over in my mind, and some time later an analogy occurred to me that developed out of another subject we'd been discussing. My friend had just finished her junior year of high school and was debating which colleges to apply to. Though a gifted student with a solid academic record, she was hesitant to apply to the schools she most admired for fear of being rejected. Self-distrust seemed in danger of limiting her opportunities.
Who had declared her ability, intelligence, and academic record deficient? I asked myself. The deans of admissions hadn't. They had never turned her down, never rejected her, never told her she wasn't good enough. Obviously, a mistaken estimate of her ability was holding her back.
