Each of us comes into the world with a set of givens, unavoidable and unchangeable conditions over which we have no control and to which we must respond. With very little reflection we can identify several such givens. Our birth itself is a given over which we have no control, as is the place where we are born. We have no control over whether we are born into a poverty-level ghetto existence or into an affluent family and community; we can only respond.