The man for whom I was waiting finally arrived, carrying with him a slight stench of sweat into the already musky room. He had a brace wrapped around his back, which intrigued me a bit, as I had been told he had had a major accident earlier in his life. The lady in charge directed him to me, and he walked to the seat beside me with a bit of a limp. My task as a volunteer in the Graduation Recovery program was to tutor him in his work towards a GED, an undertaking that was more challenging than I had anticipated. The man stuttered and often had a difficult time writing because his arm would shake uncontrollably, but he was persistent despite his frustrations. Sometimes he would throw fits because he felt so trapped by his physical limitations – he knew what he wanted to say or write, he just could not get his body to say or write it.
Unfortunately, he was not able to graduate at the end of that term of the GED program, but there were plenty of others who did. I had tutored some of these people throughout the summer, and was graciously invited to attend their graduation. It was an interesting sight to see – many of these GED recipients had encouraging and supportive families, while the families of others were quite opposed to their aspirations; still others did not even have contact with their families. I had attended a private school all my life, which had sheltered me from the knowledge of the situations through which many of these people had struggled. Many of them were forced out of school so they could work to keep their family off the streets; some were women who had gotten pregnant in high school and made the tough choice to keep their baby, forcing them to drop out. Seeing these people with less than fortunate circumstances press through adversity was a humbling and inspiring experience. And while I may have been able to teach them more about Algebra and the Ottoman Empire, I think they taught me more about life.
Although it seems obvious that we cannot tell who a person really is by looking at him or her, that fact is quickly lost when we shift from the realm of conspicuous clichés to the realm of how we act. The fact that every person is a complex being who has gone through a unique set of experiences that we may not know of or understand often gets muffled by our immature impulse to package people in pre-sized boxes. I realized that before I would have stereotyped most of these people without any considerable inspection into who they were, but by working with them I saw the humanity and value in them. By tutoring them I became a better-rounded person in my approach to others.
My dad, who did not graduate from college, yet became very successful, has always told me that education is good when one needs it, but is not the most important requirement for one to make it through life successfully. His personal achievement came largely without the use of what he had learned in school. Thus, I had a rather wary view of the importance of education for people who were not going to use, say, an understanding of Biology or Shakespeare to make a living. But after seeing the confidence the Graduation Recovery students built when they succeeded, I realized that, although knowing the difference between an alligator and a crocodile may not help one swim across a reptile-infested lake, confidence in one’s abilities can propel someone to do higher things. Knowing when the Battle of Hastings was fought may not make a person an excellent hairdresser or construction worker, but the boost in self-esteem that comes when one realizes he or she can do what others can do makes that person more willing to challenge him- or herself to become the best person he or she can be. I had learned the importance of building confidence in myself and others; if one wants to motivate someone to improve himself or herself, you must first let them build some momentum. It may seem obvious, but it is something I, one who often overlooks the power of emotions, frequently forget.
But it wasn’t just in my perspective of my relationship with others that I was awakened. If these people, who had been handed such a bad situation by life, could succeed in even this simple thing and have hopes for the future (three or four were planning to go into college to become nurses), how much should I, having lived under much better circumstances, be expected to accomplish? “To whom much has been given, much is expected.” I realized that I should always search for new ways to challenge myself. If something seems easy for me, then I’m not trying my hardest, which means I’m not going to be all I can be. I’ve done my best to apply this rule to everything from working out for football to improving my knowledge so that I can be better at Quizbowl, in hopes that in the end, I will be able to exemplify the value of a life of self-improvement in a way that persuades others to throw off the pestilence of the underachieving status quo.
Volunteering is often viewed as if one gives up something, typically his or her time, to help others, assuming that the volunteer is losing a bit of something precious and limited. Rarely is its seen as the personal investment that it truly is. By working in the Graduation Recovery Program, I realized that comprehending human interconnectedness helps one understand that everyone benefits from the successes of others, meaning that helping, rather than undermining or neglecting, others ultimately benefits the giver the most. In a somewhat counterintuitive way, stepping on the heads of others does not assist one in reaching lofty goals as much as bending down to help another up does. Treading on the heads of others merely results in two people being left sprawling on the ground. Instead, serving benefits one the most in the long run. Not only does he or she gain a more complete perspective of people, he or she helps make the world better for people.
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