A few months ago, my husband came to me with two sheets of paper with several sets of numbers on each. At the top of one sheet of paper, he had written Linda is a Rare Talent. I was quite taken back by such an “assessment.” In fact, I was both confused and intrigued, as I often find myself, by his choice of words and I wondered what had given rise to such a striking declaration.
Face twisted and eyebrows raised, I tried to make sense of the set of mathematical computations he had neatly written one under the other.
Finally, I asked him, “What do you mean?”
Running his finger down his list, he explained, “You are a Black female licensed psychologist. Based on statistics from the American Psychological Association, only 4.4% of all licensed psychologists are Black; 3.5% of all licensed psychologists are Black females; 5% of female licensed psychologists are Black; 1.8% of Black female licensed psychologists are in your age group. Aanddd…when you consider that the total U.S. population is 331,000,000 and that your service group represents .0013% of the population…you are so rare.”
I don’t feel rare, I thought to myself. But I do know that I was born for this.
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