January 20, 2008
Two Paths To Harvard
In the epilogue chapter of the book “FREAKONOMICS” the last page of the chapter mentioned about the life of two men. The two men are Roland G. Fryer and Ted Kaczynski. According to the book and here is the extract from it.
“Recall for a moment the two boys, one white and one black, who were described in chapter 5. The white boy who grew up outside Chicago had smart, solid, encouraging, loving parents who stressed education and family. The black boy from Daytona Beach was abandoned by his mother, was beaten by his father, and had become a full-fledged ganster by his teens. so what became of the two boys?
The second child, now twenty-eight years old, is Roland G. Fryer Jr, the Harvard economist studying black under achievement. The white child also made it to Harvard. But soon after things went badly for him. His name is Ted Kaczynski.”
I am curious to know who is Ted Kaczynski? As the book had no details about him and what went wrong for him, I decided to go online to find out.
Apparently Ted Kaczynski is the infamous unabomber. He sent home made explosive devices through the post and these would explode when the parcels are opened. A very informative site about Ted Kaczynski is found here CrimeLibrary
This is indeed a case of different lives, different fates. Or is it? Blaming fate is debatable as one chooses his own life’s paths. It can be good or it can be destructive. But the question is what made a person choose the destructive path like Ted Kaczynski who had such a bright future right from the beginning as compared to Roland G Fryer. This is something which we may never know why.
