David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Dyslexics compensate for their
disability by developing other skills that
—at times—can prove highly
advantageous. Being bombed or
orphaned can be a near-miss experience
and leave you devastated. Or it can be a
remote miss and leave you stronger.
These are David’s opportunities: the
occasions in which difficulties,
paradoxically, turn out to be desirable.
The lesson of the trickster tales is the
third desirable difficulty: the unexpected
freedom that comes from having nothing
to lose. The trickster gets to break the
rules.
The executive director of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, the