But for the Grace of God

I am listening to Sidney Poitier's book, The Measure of a Man. In the mod-50's, after making No Way Out, Cry Beloved Country and Blackboard Jungle, his only source of steady income to support his family was a failing rib restaurant. It finally got to the point where he asked his father-in-law to teach him how to lay bricks.

A man whom we would consider a quintescential success struggled to feed his family in the midst of that supposed success. Ain't hind-sight grand?

P.S.: He failed at bricklaying