Outliers

The definition of an outlier is an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data. During Sociology this past week we had to read a short excerpt from The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. This story of success told the story of a small town in Pennslyvania, Roseto. This little town was different from mostly every single town or city in America at that time. It was found that the people of Roseto were very special. Unlike the rest of the nation people here lived longer lives and didn't suffer from heart failure, the most deadly disease at the time. After long research it was found out that the people of Roseto didn't have special genes that made them better than the rest or healthy diets, it was where they lived and the community in which they lived in. The values that they had in Roseto separated them from the rest and had a profound effect on their overall health and well being. I myself can connect to this story on a very personal level. Like the people of Roseto, my family comes from a small town in Ciminia, Sicily. We are a very large family and take very special interest in each others lives. I feel very similar to the people of Roseto because my family is one big community, it is not about the individual but the family as a whole. While reading this story, i felt very connected to the lifestyle of the Roseto's and the lifestyle of my own.