If Sonia Could

You can learn a lot watching television. But you must pick the right channel . . . The confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor for the United States Supreme Court of Justice have been a wonderful lesson on how to get by in difficult times. And these are difficult times.

Few people know that this woman of Puerto Rican descent, who quickly made herself into one of the most important Latinas in history, lost her father when she was nine years old. This could have condemned her to failure and poverty; however, she didn’t let this define her.

Sonia Sotomayor had three things in her favor: She knew what she wanted, she fought for this with unequaled will power and she had the great support of an intelligent family.

The lesson is that if Sonia could, Maria of the Bronx also can.

Like Sotomayor, Barack Obama succeeded in spite of having seen his father only once in his life. Other young people justify their errors because of the absence of a father figure. Not Obama.

A little while ago in the White House, I was able to hear a speech in which Obama spoke of the importance of breaking negative cycles. His father, he said, was not present in his life, but he promised himself to always be present in the lives of his daughters. In spite of being the busiest father on the planet, Obama tries to attend the school activities and soccer games of Sasha and Malia. The lesson is that if Obama could, Juan of East Los Angeles also can.

The leader of the North American Senate, Harry Reid, told me in an interview that his mother washed someone else’s clothes so that his family could survive. Reid’s house, in a rural area of Nevada, did not have plumbing or hot water. In spite of very modest beginnings, he got by and today makes decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. The lesson is that if Reid could, Alejandro of Pilsen also can.

I would not want to think that the examples of self-improvement of Sotomayor, Obama and Reid are a typically American phenomenon. But I must recognize that these stories of people who grow up without resources and who end up in positions of power and influence seem to occur with greater frequency in the U.S. than in other countries. It is part of a system that rewards effort, regardless of origin, gender, race or religion. It is merit above money or family contacts.

In the U.S., there seems to be a direct relationship between effort and results. The greater the effort, the greater the results. In Latin America, however, I have seen too many examples of people who work hard and who die poor. But even there, there are many cases of success in the face of very difficult circumstances.

I prefer interviewing politicians to interviewing singers. It’s not my world, but in the last two years, due to a new television program, I have spoken with many artists, and there are a few basic and important things that I have learned from them and about success.

If Alejandro Suiz, Paulina Rubio, Raphael, Facundo Cabral, Ricardo Arjona, Daddy Yankee or Placido Domingo have something in common, it is that they dedicate themselves to what they like to do best.

Attention: success here does not necessarily mean being a multimillionaire, having a private airplane and appearing on the Internet. The most simple definition of success is making a living from what you most like doing. The formula of professional success seems to be to dedicate yourself to what you most like to do, and then to try to be the best in what you do, contributing something new and unique.

The lesson is that if Alejandro, Paulina, Raphael, Facundo, Ricardo, Raymond and Placido could; Arturo of Ponce, Patricia of Barranquilla, Roberto of Michoacan, Felipe of San Salvador, Raul of Caracas, Rodolfo of Guayaquil and Pedro of San Pedro Sula also can.

I know it sounds like a publicity campaign. Or even worse, a paid political announcement. But, while listening to Sonia Sotomayor in the Senate, I cannot forget the words that agricultural leader Dolores Huerta said, and that later Cesar Chavez made famous: Yes we can.

When we see Sonia Sotomayor, it is difficult to imagine that one she was a fragile child, confused and hurt by the death of her father.

She grew up in the Bronx, New York, in a time in which the Puerto Rican community confronted many ethnic prejudices and whose members lived, for the most part, in poverty. One out of three Latinos did not even finish elementary school or high school, but she studied law in the prestigious universities of Princeton and Yale.

Sonia Sotomayor could have had a life marked by obscurity and silence. Today, instead, her voice is heard in the whole country and her life is a luminous example that to want is to be able to. If Sonia could…