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Nathan Williams

Professor Sinclair

Critical Thinking and Communication

March 10th, 2018

Interview on a Good Life

As a young child, looking up at the ceiling at night, being able to see the stars from your

bedroom in a little town in Monroeville, Alabama was just the beginning. If she had to use the

bathroom, she would have to put on a jacket and bring a lamp to the outhouse in the backyard,

since she did not have indoor plumbing until the 9th grade. Since growing up poor most of her

childhood, defiantly left an impact that is understandable. The motivation to not be poor and to

receive a higher education and a better life was in the making. She left this life, with the intent of

never going back to it; she graduated from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama,

with a master’s degree in nutrition. She worked as a certified dietitian for a company right after

graduation in Houston, Texas. So, what is a good life according to someone who grew up low

class and is now a successful mid-high-class woman in her industry?

Her name is Sandra Williams and she is currently 51 years of age. She is originally from

Monroeville, Alabama, where she lived until she turned 18 years old and went off to school. She

lived in Huntsville, Alabama for three years and then moved to Houston, Texas after graduation

with her husband, and started working in the nutrition field. After six years in Texas, she moved

to Greenville, South Carolina due to her husband taking a job in South Carolina. She has lived in

Greenville, South Carolina for the past 19 years and going. She has two sons; Timothy and

Nathan. Timothy is her first born, who Is 26 years of age, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina
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and works for Duke Energy in downtown Charlotte. Nathan is her second born, who is 20 years

of age, that currently attends UNC- Charlotte as a sophomore pursuing a degree in Management

Information Systems. She has been married to her husband Michael for 29 years, and on March

12th, they will be officially married for 30 years. Their story traces back to college, when she was

in chemistry class and Michael would sit in the front row of class and would be asleep, and the

teacher would call his name, and he would get up and answer the question correctly, then would

go back to sleep which made him stood out. She has worked in the nutrition field her whole

career and has been working for the state of South Carolina for 17 years. She currently works for

DHEC Greenville hospital system doctor’s office. She is the lead dietitian and diabetes educator.

In her job, she sees patients who are diabetics during and after pregnancy and comes up with diet

plans for them to eat that will help to lower patients’ blood pressure. Even though her job does

come with a lot of paperwork and having to have translators for different languages other than

English, she loves and enjoys what she does. She plans on retiring after 25 years of working for

the state and live life, such as exploring new places and things she never has done before.

When she was asked about what is a good life, Sandra believes that a good life is two

words. God and Family. She believes when your life is centered around god, your life will

flourish. God has always been a part of her life while growing up and still to this day, the

greatest gift god gave everyone is life, and it is up to you on how you want to live and make up

of that life. Family has always been a part of her life too. She says “family was always there for

each other no matter what” and it molded her to the person she is today. The saying family is

everything, she believed that, because growing up, to get through all of her struggles and family

struggles, was her family, being there for each other always. So according to her, a good life is

one where god and family is centered upon each other.

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The question about how going about living a good life was a no brainer for her. She said

that, “treat others as you would want to be treated”. She explained saying that it is her guiding

principle on living life, even though she might not be treated the same back. Respect was a big

thing for her, no matter who you are, treat her with respect, and you will be given back the same.

She learned this guiding principle while growing up, and she learned no matter who, what or

where you came from, respect is always earned not given, and everyone should want to be

treated with the same respect as you treat others.

The next question she was asked is how do you define happiness for you. She explained

that happiness to her is when everything she cares about in life is in a good state and at peace is

what make her life happy. Her family and children are a major part of her happiness. She is the

youngest of eight siblings, and they are all very close to this day. She says that on every

Thursday night, she has a sister prayer on the phone, with her other four sisters, that read

scripters from the bible and talk about god and personal life every week. She also talks to all of

her siblings every week, who which are all close. She says that “she wouldn’t be the person she

is today without her family”. While growing up she said that she always knew she wanted to

have a family of her own. She originally wanted to have four children, but after Timothy and

Nathan, she said that she didn’t want to have anymore, since they kepted her very busy, almost

too much. Hearing and knowing that her family and children are doing good and okay, makes her

happy. She also said that she is not materialistic, so anything such as cell phone will not make

her happy. She said she actually “prefers just having a landline phone and no cell phone because

she doesn’t like technology so much”. She also explained that peace is happiness to her. As far

as having good health, beening financially stable, and everyone she cares about is doing good is

what she calls peace in life. She says that “peace is whatever you make it to be in your life that
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contributes to your happiness”. She explains that we all need peace as individuals to be happy in

life.

Sandra was asked a question that says what are the problems we face as human that need

to be address. Her main answer points were poverty, racism, and understanding the differences

of cultures. She explains that poverty is a worldwide issue, from individuals not graduating high

school, to the loss of jobs due to industry’s going out of business, and addicts. “There are so

many factors that contribute to poverty, the main issue is how to fix the rising rates of poverty”

she says. She explains saying that raising minimum wage can help, but this will cause someone

to lose their job due to the employer having to pay its employees more and the company has to

let go employees to fix the flux of raising minimum wage. Racism is still a big part in society

today she says. Minorities are racially profiled based on the store they walk into, or area that

person is at, which is sad she explains. “We are all equal under god’s word, not one race is better

than the other she says”. The root of racism is taught, you are never born being racist, you are

taught by your parents, family members, and people you associate with to be this way; and you

know what is right and wrong as an individual. How do we fix racism in America? She responds

by saying that it starts with us, the people knowing what’s right and wrong as human beings. The

understanding of different cultures is another problem we face today she says. Everyone is not

the same and views the world in different ways than you would think. The fact about

understanding and respecting someone else’s view is crucial. She says the “different types of

religion have caused conflicts with other beliefs in America”. She explains that Muslims in

America are treated based off of the religion and race that is worshiped. There are people out

there who say that Muslims are violent because of the religion they worship, which is not right.

She also explains that African American culture as far as our music, hairstyles, demeanor, the
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way we dress are criticized and stereotyped as a hoodlum, which is not true. How can judge

someone based on the skin of their color and feel inferior because your skin is a lighter shade is

not right. There are still many problems that need to be addressed but with god, anything is

possible.

Sandra was asked this question about what have been the best and worst experiences in

her life, and she answered with a lot of enjoyment and sadness. She loves the career field that she

has been working in for the last 17 years and it makes her happy that she can help others. Now

going back to her college days, she has won a few awards that she is still proud of to this day;

she won the most outstanding student at her college as a freshman which is one of her most

proud moments in her life she explains. Her major was nutrition and she was apart of the honor

society for her major and she went to a conference and spoke to hundreds of people and went

against hundreds of other students in the state of Alabama with the same major and ended up

winning the State FHA college award. She said that “winning that award when going against

hundreds of other students is her best award she has won”. She said having her two son is her

best experience in life because she became a mother, and it changed her life for the better.

Becoming a dietitian and specialized diabetes educator, were her main goals during her career.

She was happy that she can now help the patients that she wanted to help live a better life and

helping others has always given her joy in life. She explains that her second most best experience

in life is when she won the best nutritionist in the whole state of South Carolina twice. It

validated all of her hard work and dedication to the job she loves, and knowing that “she is

helping patients live better life’s, has been her calling from god” she says. Her response for the

worst experiences are dealing with the loss of her parents. Her mother, passed away

unexpectedly when she was 27 years old, and still has issues coping with that today. She said
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that she was very close to her mom, probably the closest out of all of the siblings since she was

the baby and when she passed, she wasn’t ready for her to be gone. It hurt her deeply for many

years, but she was able to get through it with god and family. When she was 49 years of age, she

lost her father due to cancer. Cancer is a horrible disease and it can affect anyone no matter who

you are. She was prepared for the passing of her father, but it still hurt deeply that none of her

parents are living anymore, and now going back home will never be the same.

The interview relates back to what we have learned and discussed in class. One of them is

adversity, which we have learned that it creates a role for bettering a individual and learning

from this adversity. It can either help you grow personally or you can choose to not to learn from

it. Adversity can have two types, weak and strong. According to Haidt, weak adversity is when

you face adversity than can lead to growth. Strong adversity is when you need to face adversity

to grow as a person. In Sandra’s case, she faced strong adversity from her experience growing up

poor. The experiences of not having indoor plumbing until she was in the 9th grade, motivated

her to never experience that struggle again when she reached adulthood. She graduated college a

year early because she was so determined to finish school and provide for herself. By facing this

adversity, she turned out better and stronger than ever alongside with god and her husband

Michael, so in the end she faced adversity at a young age, which made her grow as a person.
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