The Story of Eugene Lang

The story of Eugene Lang gives us an ultimate example of encouragement. Entrepreneur Lang was Success magazine’s “Successful Man of the Year” in 1986. The following is part of a feature article about Lang’s encouragement of others:

A gray- haired man stands alone in the center of the auditorium stage— a distinguished, paternal presence sporting a fine wool suit and the barest trace of a mustache. He scans the sunlit room, with its peeling paint and frayed draperies, but his gaze lingers on the people. They are Black and Hispanic men and women who fill most of the seats in the auditorium. Though some do not speak English, their attention is fixed on the man at the podium. But his speech is not aimed at them. He has returned to this place where he once was a student to address the 61 sixth graders, dressed in blue caps and gowns, who are seated in the front rows. “This is your first graduation— just the perfect time to dream,” he says. “Dream of what you want to be, the kind of life you wish to build. And believe in that dream. Be prepared to work for it. Always remember, each dream is important because it is your dream, it is your future. And it is worth working for.” “You must study,” he continues. “You must learn. You must attend junior high school, high school, and then college. You can go to college. You must go to college. Stay in school and I’ll …” The speaker pauses, and then, as if suddenly inspired, he blurts out: “I will give each of you a college scholarship.” For a second there is silence, and then a wave of emotion rolls over the crowd. All the people in the auditorium are on their feet, jumping and running, cheering and waving and hugging one another. Parents rush down the aisles to their children. “What did he say?” one mother calls out in Spanish. “It’s money! Money for college!” her daughter yells back with delight, collapsing into her parents’ arms. The place was an elementary school in a poverty-stricken, drug-ridden, despair-plagued Harlem neighborhood. The speaker was multimillionaire entrepreneur Eugene Lang , who 53 years earlier had graduated from that very school. The date was June 25, 1981 , and the big question was whether the warm and ever-confident Lang, a man who believes that “each individual soul is of infinite worth and infinite dignity,” would fulfill his promise. 

Well, he did and he still is. Of 61 graduates, 54 stayed in contact with Lang, and 90 percent of those achieved a high school diploma or equivalent, and 60 percent went on to higher education. You have to understand, at that time, in that community, the high school drop-out rate was 90 percent. Lang began the “I Have a Dream” foundation and now other entrepreneurs all over the country are also going into classrooms offering the same kind of scholarships. Even the U.S. Congress took notice and used Lang’s ideas as a model for a nationwide education program called GEAR UP started in 1998.

People need to be encouraged. Eugene Lang believed in these kids and it made all the difference in how they lived the rest of their lives. 

The article goes on to show Lang’s impact: Lang’s students speak confidently of becoming architects, computer experts, entrepreneurs of all types. Lang says 25 will go to college this year, the others will have high school diplomas, opportunities for vocational training and, eventually jobs. “This approach is exactly right,” observes Charles Murray of the Manhattan Institute of Policy Research, whose book Losing Ground laments that poor people are losing their drive to climb the ladder of success. Ari Alvarado expressed it from the students’ side: “I have something waiting for me,” he said, “and that’s a golden feeling.” And if this program works, it may in fact become the ultimate capitalist success story— for, as George Gilder points out, the roots of capitalism lie not in greed but in giving: The true capitalist is one who invests money and energy today in hopes of a return in the uncertain future. That’s what Eugene Lang has done, and it’s likely that some of his dream students will follow suit. “I want to become a doctor and do well so I can adopt a class of will follow suit. “I want to become a doctor and do well so I can adopt a class of my own someday,” says the optimistic Alvarado. “Just think, if all of us adopted classes … it could spread across the world!” That is exactly what Eugene Lang hopes will happen: “We have to create the opportunity to work with hope, to work with ambition, and to work with self-respect. The rewards? There is no way to describe the joy of having a young person touch your arm and smile because you have taught him new values and touched his heart and mind. The greatest experience you can have is to see that child with his new aspirations.” 

The happiest people are those who have invested their time in others. The unhappiest people are those who wonder how the world is going to make them happy. Karl Menninger, the great psychiatrist, was asked what a lonely, unhappy person should do. He said, “Lock the door behind you, go across the street, find someone who is hurting, and help them.” Forget about yourself to help others.