I’ve recently run across stories about people who have made significant contributions despite the “odds”–or at least what a lot of us would have considered the “odds.”  Both stories have reminded me of many things.  The first reminds me of challenges my Dad had to overcome as a young man, and the second reminds me of the important place of immigrants in America, including that of my own great grandparents.

The first person is 77-year old Harry Stine, whom I will call the “father” of the modern soybean.  Stine’s work revolutionized soybean farming and his research is reflected in roughly two-thirds of all soybeans grown in the United States.  His company, Stine Seed, holds 900 patents and employs 600 people around the world.  That’s a big accomplishment for anyone, but particularly noticeable for someone who struggled in school, is on the autism spectrum, and is dyslexic.  From the standpoint of many people, Harry Stine probably wouldn’t have been voted “the most likely to succeed.”  Instead, a lot of people probably would have wondered if he would ever even make it.

Another person I read about recently was Manfred Steinfeld.  Steinfeld died earlier this year, but along the way he managed to build a Chicago-based company named Shelby-Williams into the largest maker of hotel and restaurant seating in the country.  As The Wall Street Journal noted, “If you ate out, you likely sat in one of his chairs.”  Steinfeld’s background is even more dramatic than Stine’s  “Manny” arrived in the United States as a 14-year old in 1938.  His mother (who later died in a Nazi concentration camp, along with his sister) sent her young son away from his home in Germany in order to escape the rising tide of anti-Jewish violence.  As a young man, Manny earned the Bronze Star for combat service during World War II, then went on to serve in Korea.  Later, as a result of his own business success, he sought to help others in significant ways.  Among his legacy are more than 500 scholarships which he funded at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  Not bad for a poor refugee kid who arrived in America with only a $10 bill sewn into his pocket.

Both men remind me of another “overcomer,” Sir Winston Churchill, and his famous line:  “Never give up!”  Churchill–perhaps more than anyone in Western history–knew the importance of that sentiment!