Overview
Today a student lunged to embrace me, a student who though not the best with his words,spoke to me in a way I have not felt in a while. Embraced me with a pure degree of gratitude and sincerity which isn’t common in the World. Then off he went, awkwardly bumping shoulders, head towards his feet,laces untied with his shirt partly tucked in. Making his way invisibly through others who probably remember him as this awkward kid who stumbles over his words. Though those things are true, beneath that I saw a glimpse of a pure soul just trying in the truest meaning of the word try.
The Story
“Hi do you need some help”, that’s how it started. There he was, staring at his mother as she looked down at what must have seemed to her like 100 fleets of stairs.Nonetheless as most of us do when we are everything but fine she politely says, “ No I’m fine”. As she fought her way determined to descend the stairs though visibly in pain, I insisted on getting a golf cart to assist and that is how we met. I tried to form small talk with the student, but quickly noticed he was very anxious and expressing himself was very challenging. Clearly an ongoing thing as often the mother would hop in to talk for him as he tried to connect the dots between his thoughts and his words, yet every time the lines got crossed.
Through talking and hearing their accent, it turns out just like myself, they were of Caribbean descent. I could see how proud the mother was of her son, despite whatever struggles he had, he made it to college. She loved her son, wanted nothing but the best for him as she asked just about everything she could. We were able to resolve a few issues and by the end of lunch we parted ways.
Coincidentally we crossed paths again at the end of the day, “ Hey how was it?”. He was surprised to see me, at least that is what his reaction told me. Same pattern, not many words, just a shy ,”it was nice thank you” shook my hand and he turned his back. I thought this was going to be it, up to this point all I learned directly about him was his major, not much of a talker. Then as he’s walking he stops, turns towards me, and just goes for it and keeps repeating thank you so much as he hugged me. It all made sense, I don’t know his story personally but at that moment it all made sense.
Here was someone, aware of his challenges , aware he didn’t fit in , that things were a bit harder for him but regardless he was trying and something about that stuck with me. Someone who had so much humbleness about him that it is almost like he has no capacity to do wrong. Detached from his peers but maybe because of that maintains a pure soul. Yet as I watched him leave I saw how he just seemed to disappear into non-existence . Though he may feel like I helped him, it is really him who helped me. Helped me see how much there is to be thankful for and what really matters. As I watched from a distance, back into his own world he went. As others walked around him like a cone in the road, there he was just patiently waiting at the door for his mother. Nothing or no one else seemed to matter to him, that was enough. As they reunited I just looked on and smiled,off they went.
I never mentioned his name and for most of the day not even I knew it, despite spending a few hours with him and his mother.
So after he hugged me I asked, his name is Christ.
