Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story

Friday, April 11, 2003

I'm not into popular TV. Never have been, never will be. I don't like Friends, or Seinfeld, or any of that so-called "reality television," which is about as unreal as you can get without computer generated special effects. I like Star Trek reruns, and the new show Enterprise. I like the History channel, and Discovery, Food Network, and the news stations. On network TV, I think E.R. is good, and CSI: Whatever is alright. As I said, though, I'm really not into popular TV. So, I tend not to surf much. A few days ago, however, I was surfing at night, and stopped on the Lifetime network. Yes, Lifetime, which I have in the past jokingly called the "Give me back my baby!" network. I stopped because I caught the beginning of a movie they produced that really touched my heart. The movie, called "Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story," was based on the real life of a girl, Elizabeth Murray (played by Thora Birch), who's around my age (give or take a few months), and lived what I would consider to be a pretty traumatic life.

Liz Murray's parents were drug addicts. From what I understand of the short biographies I've read about her, they were addicts since before she was born. They didn't have much money, and what little they did was typically spent on buying drugs. Liz, and her sister Jess, didn't have the opportunities that most people take for granted. Besides not having food, heat, and a safe place to live, they also never got to go to school. I was never a big fan of going to school, and God knows I was pretty terrible at it. I think that back then, I would've embraced an opportunity to not have to go to school, though now I see the error in that kind of thinking.

When Liz was 15, her mother, who had been sick from years of drug abuse, AIDS, and tuberculosis, passed away. This was a turning point in Liz's life. She saw where she had been, and what could possibly happen if she were to continue in that life. She decided it was time for a change, and that the only way to change it was to go back to school. Not a very easy thing to do when you are homeless, and your past grades were pretty bad.

Needless to say, Liz got into a high school, and in two years, took the full four year curriculum, and graduated at the top of her class. Not only that, but she also won a $12,000/year scholarship from the New York Times, in their yearly contest which awards underprivileged children who've overcome major struggles in their lives. Liz got into Harvard, and also started working for the New York Times.

The story really touched me. That's not exactly something that's easy to do, being the misanthrope (*wink*) that I am. It did, however, and I'm pleased that it did. After seeing what Liz Murray went through, and seeing how she overcame the adversity in her life and bettered herself, I was proud. My generation has a tendency to be lazy, and enjoys living in the status quo, instead of trying to push forward and make things better. In Liz Murray, I see someone that has the drive to set the world afire and make things happen.

The end of the movie is bittersweet, I thought. It announced that Liz left Harvard this year to pursue her education, but left out the details. I hope above hope that she didn't give up Harvard for something trivial, but I do hope that she sticks to the path she was on, and becomes a successful individual, wherever she goes in life.

If you'd like to see her story, it'll be repeating on the Lifetime network on:

• Sunday, April 20 @ 6pm
• Wednesday, April 30, @ 9pm

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