One of my grandfathers actually having gone out there as a minister decided he would better serve the people as a doctor. So at a very late age - at the age of 38 in fact - he changed course and decided to become a doctor.
My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.
The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes but you don't change at all. And that of course causes great confusion.
As long as our civilisation keeps trundling along generally forwards then there is the possibility of a future where ethnicity is merely an interesting badge not a uniform you can't take off.