Hi, my name is Mark Barton, and I am one in a thousand! That may sound a little arrogant or cocky, but before you stop reading let me tell you a little bit about One in a Thousand.
In October of 1959, I was born in El Dorado, Arkansas - a little town in the south. Usually the birth of a child is a wonderful event, but there was a complication. I was born with a birth defect called spina bifida - more commonly called open spine. Within 9 days after my birth I had to have emergency surgery at St. Vincent's Infirmary hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, to repair a spinal fluid leak. In those early days the doctors didn't know whether I would live or die. Even if I did live, they didn't know if I would suffer from fluid on the brain or not. And even if I did not, they didn't know whether I'd ever learn to walk or be paralyzed. You see, spina bifida is a pretty serious birth defect that can lead to early death, or significant disabilities.
My parents and my brothers weren't doctors. They decided I would live, I would not suffer developmental disabilities, and I would walk. Oh, they knew spina bifida affected one out of every 1000 babies born in the US at that time, but they never told me I was just a statistic. They spent my entire childhood telling me that I was one in a thousand - that I was expected not just to survive, but to thrive. And so I believed I was one in a thousand. And I learned to walk in leg braces designed to correct my pigeon toes and club feet. I went to school with all the other children and I was expected to make good grades, be polite, be obedient, and make something of myself.
I finally took the leg braces off in the seventh grade, and I participated in school choirs, ran for student council and won, and made sufficiently good grades to be listed in the honor roll. By high school, I sang in the top choir, performed in the Thespian drama club, was a member of the National Honor Society, and was nominated for Boys' State.
I later went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Southern Arkansas University, and a law degree (Juris Doctor) from the University of Arkansas School of Law. I then practiced law for fifteen years. During those 15 years, I started to teach National Government at South Arkansas Community College and liked it so much I found what I really wanted to do. I ended my law practice and I have now been teaching Government for 15 and 1/2 years!
I did it all because someone - or REALLY a lot of someones - never considered me a sad statistic. They considered me one in a thousand. And so, today I write. This blog is not just about me, though. I am one in a thousand, and I am happy to share what I know, and what I have experienced, and what I think (both the serious and the silly) in this blog. But this blog will also be about all the other people who are one in a thousand. So, sprinkled through this blog I will try to share stories of others who are one in a thousand. And I will try to share what I think being one in a thousand means and how anyone can be more than just a sad human statistic - how each of us can be the One, and how each of us can nurture another and help them be the One.
I am one in a thousand.
About Me
- Mark Barton
- Mark E. Barton is a community college political science instructor who lives, works and writes from El Dorado, a small town in south central Arkansas. He was born in 1959 with a serious birth defect, spina bifida, which at that time affected ONE in every one THOUSAND live births in the United States. His family and friends taught him that his disability did not make him a meaningless number or a victim. It made him ONE in a THOUSAND. Not one by himself. Not one completely unique person. But ONE person among a THOUSAND more. ONE person living a life connected to others.