President Obama nominated, Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic woman for the Supreme Court justice. Many people are excited about Sotomayor because she is the first Latino selected for this position. Others feel that that the most important factor about her nomination is that she is a woman. I think the most important factor about Sotomayor is that she was raised in the Bronx in a modest home by a single parent.

I am not saying that being raised in poverty is a prerequisite in order to be successful in America. However, I do believe that having the personal discipline to work one’s way up from poverty builds strong character, integrity and a unique way of viewing the world that is not afforded to people who have been raised in wealthy homes.

Being raised in a modest home by a single parent brings intellectual and spiritual gifts, skills, and views that can never be taught in the best schools in the world. In my opinion, compassion and empathy are the most important characteristics of any profession; whether you are a teacher, doctor, lawyer or politician. Unfortunately, neither compassion nor empathy can be taught because these qualities are developed through life experiences that make one’s mind strong, while at the exact same time making one’s heart soft.

When you are poor you know what it feels like not to have something. When you work hard and obtain your goals you understand what it is like to have something that you once yearned to experience. If you are born in a wealthy family where most of your material needs were met; not by any fault of your own, you have only experienced one side of the equation.

When you are born into a wealthy family, you do not know or truly understand what it feels like not to have your basic needs met. Secondly, and equally as important, you have not developed the psychological, social, political and emotional skills that will help you earn these things on your own.

Of course this does not include all life experiences such as making the team, dating your dream partner, or losing loved ones. However, I do believe that being born in a wealthy and/ or affluent family shields, protects and provides more social and economical opportunities that are not given to the average working class citizen.

Sotomayor’s modest upbringing supersedes her ethnic background and her gender. The insight and wisdom that she has developed on her rise to the top will enable her to have a deeper understanding of human nature and how it is shaped and nurtured by its laws.

Any person regardless of their gender or ethnic background who is in a position to make decisions that will have an enormous impact on the majority of people who have the least in our society-- should have at least spent a moment of their lives living in their shoes.