Like Boston and a number of other cities, Toledo, Ohio, has its tougher and more challenging neighborhoods. Tom Seeman grew up in a family of fourteen in a predominantly black housing project in one of those neighborhoods.

Like so many, Seeman was consigned to a childhood of poverty, dysfunction, and constant turmoil by birth.  The price he paid for being brought into this world was high at times. There were constant challenges and emotional and physical pain both inside his rundown home in the projects as well as waiting for him the minute he crossed the threshold of that home onto the tough and turbulent streets.

But, unlike so many in those neighborhoods and on those streets, Seeman had an inner vision, the intellectual gifts, and the determination to propel himself out of that project, away from the neighborhood, and into a world of success many dream of but few achieve.  A world of earned success which landed him at Yale University; Harvard Law School; McKinsey & Company; and finally corporate boardrooms as a CEO.

But to get to such lofty platforms from the lowest of the lows, one usually needs an epiphany which clears and decompresses the mind just long enough to see an invaluable truth which had always been right before you.  For Seeman, that moment came in the fourth grade.

It was there and then that Seeman made a shocking — but liberating — announcement. When his teacher asked his class to name the greatest thing each of their parents had given them, he stood and said: “The greatest thing my mother has given me is that she’s always there to help me. And the greatest thing my father has given me is an example of what I don’t want to be.”

Simply by vocalizing what had long been locked inside his mind, a tremendous weight had been lifted from Seeman’s shoulders. Replaced by a lightness in mind and spirit that allowed him to focus on escaping the life he was born into.

In a number of ways, Seeman’s escape was the Boston areas gain.

After achieving his goals for success as an adult, Seeman made an inspiring pledge to himself: “Every day, do something kind for a stranger.”  He has fulfilled that pledge and then some.

“Every act of kindness, no matter how small, makes a difference,” said Seeman.  “Some days it’s something small, like letting someone into my lane in traffic, and some days it’s something sizable, like creating a scholarship for underserved kids… Most days, my promise falls somewhere in between.”

One of those “sizable” acts of kindness saw Seeman and his wife Jenny donate one million dollars to the St. Francis de Sales School in Toledo, Ohio for the benefit of economically disadvantaged children.   A school Seeman credits with helping to land him firmly on the path to success, when, as himself an impoverished eighth grader, the school administrator offered him a near full scholarship.

Years after his escape from that tough Toledo neighborhood, Seeman settled in the greater Boston area with his wife Jenny to raise a family.  After doing so, his passion to give back only grew.  Today – among other things — Seeman currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Years before coming to Massachusetts and while still at Yale, people began asking Seeman the same question: “How did you get out?”  It is a critically important question.

Statistics about such poor, tough and dysfunctional neighborhoods indicate that it is almost a certainty that one would not “get out.” That one would not choose wisely. That one would fall into a pattern of hooking school, substance abuse and crime.

Later in his life as more and more people learned of his “rags to riches” story, many suggested to Seeman that he tell his inspiring story via a book.  While honored and humbled by the encouragement, Seeman was quite hesitant to do so.  First, because to do so would entail ripping off scabs, reliving pain, and quite possibly hurting or embarrassing family members. And second, because the process can be overwhelming.

For those reasons and more, Seeman rejected the idea of a memoir detailing his challenging childhood.  But then those around him offered up the most important reason of all: “What if your story could not only reach someone going through what you endured — or much worse — but change a life for the better?”

That reasoning made great sense to Seeman.  It was yet another way to fulfill the pledge to himself: “Every day, do something kind for a stranger.”  Seeman came to believe that he could tell his story to further help the charities he so deeply cared about.

So Seeman sat down and wrote that story, titled “Animals I Want to See: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Projects and Defying the Odds.”  A book that is deeply moving, will inspire all who read it, and will create untold acts of kindness.

Douglas MacKinnon – originally from Dorchester — is a former White House and Pentagon official and an author.