The first day of the second summer session of class was yesterday, and unexpectedly, I had to go do pastoral duties, duties that kept me away from class. It was youth camp time, and we had students who needed to be picked up, and the person who was supposed to do it had a family emergency, so I had to go get them. Trust me, driving to Brownwood for the third time in a week is not my cup of tea. So, I mentioned my looming first day absence to a couple of classmates, and they volunteered to help me out. One sent me the notes from the first day, the other picked up a set of the handouts for me, another volunteered to show me how to do the homework, another texted me wondering where I was. It was cool to see how we all have come together and seem to enjoy each other’s company enough to want to help if needed.
That seems like the way that businesses should run. As John Lennon is credited with saying, “life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” I know that there will be days that people I live and work with will have needs, and that I will be able to help them out. I hope that I am able to be as helpful as they have been to me. And moreover, I would like to think that the reputation of businesses as being places that aren’t concerned about people would be proven false by me and my classmates. Things happen, and that’s okay. We’re all in this together, and we can work things out. They might get a little inconvenient, but I’ve found that there’s always a way to do what needs to be done. We can do so much more than we think we can do.
All of that to say thanks to those who did just a little bit more to help this guy out. I owe ya one.