Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Page #3

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by the supercooling of the lava

when it hits the water.

The volcano erupts,

and the lava flows down red hot.

So, when it hits the water,

the elements coalesce,

and since that water is cold,

the air is forced out,

and the surface glazes over,

and the lava becomes hard,

and that makes obsidine.

I mean obsidian, sorry.

May I see you after class?

-What happened?

-I'm sorry.

What are you sorry for?

Someone unlocked the door.

Look at this.

You know what that is?

That's a whole other world, Benjamin.

You just stepped into a whole other world.

Magnitude. M-A-G-N-I-T-U-D-E. Magnitude.

Mark. ''Perpetuate.''

Perpetuate.

''the feast

''of unleavened...

''the un...''

-Unleavened.

-Unleavened.

Yeah.

B, come on. I gotta go.

Bennie, are you in there?

What potion had a sort of mixed flavor

of cherry tart, custard, pineapple...

Alice In Wonderland.

The potion

which Alice in Wonderland drank,

which made her grow into various sizes.

Tell me, when Cain settled down

east of Eden, in what land did he live?

-In the land of Nod!

-In the land of Nod.

Right. For 10 points.

How many tales in The Canterbury Tales?

-24.

-Right.

coming up. Here's your toss-up.

A leading major-league baseball player

and the layer of the earth between...

Mantle. Mickey Mantle.

Right. Between the crust and the core...

Wow, you were there before

I had the question.

Okay. Rutgers, for 20 points.

-''saunter.''

-Saunter.

S-A-U-N-T-E-R. Saunter.

-''Lacquer.''

-Lacquer.

L-A-C-K-E-R. Lacquer.

Sorry, Cliff.

Benjamin, if you spell it correctly, you win.

Lacquer.

L-A-C-Q-U-E-R. Lacquer.

-That is correct.

-Yes! Yes!

The certificate for the student

with the highest academic achievement

in the 8th grade

goes to Benjamin Carson.

Before Benjamin takes his seat,

I have a few words I want to say.

Benjamin is a boy of color.

He has no father in his life.

He comes to us

with tremendous disadvantages.

There's no reason

you shouldn't have done better than him.

What's wrong with you kids?

You're not trying hard enough.

You should be ashamed.

The certificate for outstanding

citizenship goes to Alexia Courtney.

Right, for 10 points.

All right, here's a 20-point bonus, Brandeis.

Identify the composer.

-Vivaldi.

-That's right, for 10 points.

This picture by Monet would be classified

as French Impressionism.

For 10 points, how is this picture classified?

-Primitive American.

-That's right.

Turn off that thing!

-I'll turn it down.

-No, I like it. Turn it up.

Won't Mrs. Graham

knock on the ceiling again?

Let her knock. We're moving.

We're moving?

That speech your 8th-grade teacher gave

ticked me off, so I went to the bank.

I've finally saved up enough money

to take back that house

we've been renting out.

So, starting next fall, you're going

to a school that appreciates you.

Hey, Carl, you heard what Goodwill did

with all the clothes so old and so ugly

-even the winos didn't want them?

-What?

They gave them to New Blood over there.

Do we have any money left?

-What do you mean?

-I need clothes for school.

-You got clothes for school.

-Old clothes.

-Good clothes.

-Not good enough for Hunter High.

I've seen the clothes them kids wear.

They're cheap.

No, they're not.

I didn't say they weren't expensive.

I sad they're cheap.

Most folks that wear cheap clothes

on the outside are dead on the inside.

The folks I work for,

they buy clothes that last.

That's what I try to get you.

Take Professor Burket. I wash his clothes

every week, and they always...

Bennie, don't you be slamming around here,

and don't you walk away

when I'm talking to you!

Hey, Carl, they should use Carson's shirt

in class as a chemistry lesson.

-A chemistry lesson?

-Yeah,

'cause it smelled so bad it killed all

the bugs that was breeding inside of it.

They was breeding

because your mama wore it.

I think you're confusing that

with your mama.

Her clothes are so raggedy,

even the mummy turned them down.

Your mama's so old,

she's the mummy's mama.

Your mama's so old,

your daddy's a dinosaur.

Your mama's so old,

her birth certificate says ''expired'' on it.

-Man, where we going?

-Come on.

You got the money?

-I need clothes for school.

-You got clothes for school.

Not good enough for Hunter High.

Come on.

Jerome.

This is my man.

Give him the money.

Okay.

-Morning.

-Morning.

Why aren't you wearing the pants I got you?

Don't they ft?

I don't know. I didn't try them on.

-Why not?

-They're the wrong kind.

What you mean, they're the wrong kind?

I pad good money for them pants.

That's too bad.

You can take them back if you want.

I can't take them back.

I bought them on special.

Well, that's too bad,

but I'm not gonna wear them.

I'm fixing this window myself, Bennie,

so I'd have money to get you them pants.

That's your problem.

Look, throw them away!

I'm not gonna wear them!

You can't have

everything in life you want, Bennie.

-I can! I will!

-Not as long as you keep going

down this path.

Talking smart and acting stupid!

-Well, if I didn't know any better...

-Shut up! Shut up!

-All you do is preach at me! Shut up!

-Bennie!

-What are you, crazy?

-Get off! Get off!

I sad stop it! All right, all right!

You can buy whatever you want.

You pay the balls,

you pay the balls next month.

I'll bring home every dime

I make in cash and hand it to you.

-What you got left, you keep for yourself.

-Now you're talking.

Hey, B.

-What's this crap?

-It's not crap, all right.

Shut up.

-You like this? You call this music?

-It's better than what you like.

Hey, man, quit proving how stupid you are.

You don't have to act so ignorant!

-Go to hell, man.

-What'd you say to me?

Get off me!

Bennie, what did you do?

Joe.

Get a teacher or something.

Lord. Lord, you have to

take this temper away from me.

Please. Please. Just take it.

The protesters are here in Central Park,

And there has been a significant showing...

It is, in my opinion, the most amazing organ

the human body holds.

By stimulating one section of the brain

of an 85-year-old,

you can bring back, verbatim, memories of

a newspaper article read 60 years before.

Consider your own brains.

They've absorbed and digested

enough information to bring you here,

which is no small achievement.

Your dreams are all possible

because of 3 pounds of gray matter.

We can describe it physically,

but that won't give a clue

as to how it does what it does.

Which is why I've devoted my life,

as a surgeon, to probing its mysteries.

How did you do that?

A lot of time away from home,

my wife would tell you.

But dedication and intelligence

are the easy part.

You also need an incredible

hand-eye coordination, which is a gft.

A brain surgeon? My goodness.

Well, I always sad you can do

-anything anybody else can do, Bennie.

-Anything anybody else can do, Bennie.

-Only you can do it better.

-Only you can do it better.

Don't laugh at me, it's true.

-Your grades are good?

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