I came upon this saying when I was still a high school student living in Fremont, California. From memory, I believe it came from a Buddhist teacher, or at least it originated from an Eastern philosophical pipeline. It may have been through a yoga-inspired course, but something about it really resonated with me.
Growing up and perhaps to a certain extent at the moment, I wasn’t very satisfied with the upbringing that I had. To this day, I think I still hold some resentment against the path and the people that was given and bestowed upon me, respectively, in my childhood because of how difficult I perceived it to be–the process of assimilation and having a dad that I just argued with–and still do–all the time was and is not a great experience. This, combined with the feeling of being behind in school and perpetually being in a state of trying to catch up wore me down to a very exhaustive state.
Yet, in many ways, this more difficult path is the reality that many immigrant children face. It is part of the process of assimilating in the Western hemisphere. There’s another saying that the further down you go, the higher you will be able to jump. I think I read that from another John Steinbeck book–maybe East of Eden or Grapes of Wrath, I don’t remember. Thus, having a difficult childhood–much like being gay–can be used to your advantage: you just need to learn how to harness it (It can be a source of energy).
The Ivory Tower 
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