Life Lessons

Something very tragic and traumatic happened to one of my former students this afternoon.

I am very humbled that he contacted me to tell me about it. I'm even more humbled by the fact that he thinks talking to me about it is helpful somehow to him. Sigh. Those sorts of things are hard lessons to guide someone through. Getting to know some of my university people, especially people like him, means more to me than shuffling somebody through a class and hoping they learned a thing or two. To me it means we're connected, if they want to be, for the rest of their lives. I can't help it; it's the social worker gene in me. But I do get quite attached to some of them, and he was (is) one of the best. I'm here for more things than just advice on papers, and I'm always surprised at the number of people who continue to take me up on it. Everybody needs a Virgil sometimes, and I've been down that particular hellmouth before. I'm still here.

Sigh. Social Justice would have my ass, but really all I want to do is giving him a hug.

-- Virgil