Does Going From Rags to Riches Negatively Affect a Person's Decisions In the Future?

In this blog post I will be focusing on a specific player by the name of Michael Oher. The reason he is significant is because he is one of the best examples of an athlete that went from rags to riches. In the article Michael Oher Biography, it explains how in the beginning of his life he was homeless, and had a dramatic change to being a high-paid NFL player. A lot of people would assume that because someone wasn’t educated properly, it may mean that money will get them into bad things. My goal in this post is to explain the change that athletes have, and how to they choose to spend their money being improperly educated.

Source: http://www.wapt.com/image/view/-/31130238/highRes/1/-/maxh/630/maxw/1200/-/29xxd9z/-/Michael-Oher.jpg

With all of the professional athletes there are in this world, it is very realistic to believe that some of them were raised in poor conditions. The idea of going from poor to rich sounds amazing, but could it possibly affect the person negatively? On average, professional athletes get paid more than the average high paying job. In other words, they get paid loads of money. But, since they were raised in poor conditions with improper education, it is extremely reasonable to imagine them choosing to spend their money in ways that they shouldn’t.

The famous story of Michael Oher is extremely well-known, in fact, there was a movie that was made about him that was released in 2009 called “The Blind Side.” In the article called “Michael Oher Biography” it explains the life that Oher went through. He was 1 of 12 kids raised in a family that was provided no support. Oher’s father was frequently in prison while his mother was addicted to crack cocaine. This led Michael to being in and out of foster homes and often homeless. Eventually, at the age of 16 Oher was taken in by a family that later became his legal guardians. The family recognized his naturally large size and wanted to get him involved like all the other kids, so they put Oher in football. Due to his size and strength, he quickly earned scholarship offers from Division 1 Schools. He then took his football career to Ole Miss and excelled there as well. In the 2009 NFL draft, Michael Oher was selected as the 23rd pick by the Baltimore ravens. Now a days, Oher has a networth of 15 million dollars. Going from absolutely nothing to that much money is overwhelming for most. Although Oher went from rags to riches, he has chosen to spend his money appropriately. He has never been accused of doing drugs, or committing illegal things that other high paid celebrities have been accused of doing. He took his story and inspired others by writing and autobiography. Oher has proved that going from rags to riches doesn’t necessarily mean the person will spend their money inappropriately.

Many people assume that growing up in poor conditions where some is deprived of proper surroundings will lead them to being carried away and spending their money that they eventually earn on everything in front of them, including illegal substances. People see celebrities and high paid athletes making poor decisions even when they had a normal childhood. But, they automatically think that the situation would be worse if the celebrity or athlete was raised in poor conditions. The people that assume this are wrong because Michael Oher has confirmed that a poor childhood doesn’t mean someone is destined to fail when earning money. He has grown up and made nothing but strong decisions and has become a role model.