A young boy born in a small New Zealand country town could easily have belonged somewhere else by ancestry or circumstance — England, Scotland, perhaps even Canada. Yet he grew up a Kiwi, beginning life in a tiny rural school that scarcely prepared him for the intimidating world beyond it. Boarding school brought its own shocks, but even that did not prepare him for the vast lecture halls and imposing sandstone buildings of university life. It was there he discovered how little he truly understood about learning, and how education often seemed more about remembering enough to pass examinations than preparing young people for life itself. Standing beneath those towering institutions, the task ahead could feel overwhelming — not “to be or not to be,” but simply “not to be.” Yet life has a way of continuing regardless. And somehow, through experience, environment, and the kindness of a few good-hearted souls, a person slowly grows into themselves despite the odds.