Transcriber: Sadegh Vahdati Nia Reviewer: Pari ‌Szi
Hello.
Here we are at Saline High School,
Saline, Michigan.
This high school, this school district,
this community have played a significant role in my life,
First as a student, then as an employee.
When I was in 11th grade here at Saline,
I took a sociology class that challenged me
to be empathetic to others,
and to experience the world from a different point of view.
Mr. De Paula was my teacher and my tennis coach,
and I knew he cared about me as a student and as an athlete,
and he taught me many life lessons.
One day, he assigned a project to our class
where we had to handicap ourselves
in an area that we relied on,
journal our experience and report to him what we learned.
I chose to blindfold myself for 6 hours on a Sunday,
and attempt to follow my usual schedule.
I quickly learned to depend on my other senses,
and I asked my family and friends for help.
I remember being in a church service,
sitting by myself and hearing people around me,
And none of them came up to me
to see how I was doing.
Now, they didn’t know why I was blindfolded,
but for a few minutes, I felt alone and partially invisible.
I remembered moving slowly.
Relying on others to help me walk,
Assisting me to get in a car, Get into my seat.
These were daily activities that I took for granted.
It was a humbling experience for me,
and I didn't like relying on others that much.
It was an unique assignment for Mr. De Paula,
and the lessons I learned have stayed with me.
I try to be appreciative of the capabilities and strengths
that I have been given, physically, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually, financially.
Years later, as an adult,
I was surprised how my journey brought me back to Saline High School.
I was working at a local college.
And, at first, I was enjoying it.
I was a leader in charge of starting something new at the college,
And although it was tough, I felt like I could do it.
After some time, I started to realize responsibilities,
and demands of this job were increasing.
I noticed a change in my personality, and I didn’t like what it was doing to me.
I thought I could continue accomplishing the work by myself,
but eventually, I had to ask for help.
And again, it was humbling for me.
I didn’t like that feeling of not being able to rely on myself,
And instead, I had to look to others for help.
Sadly, the help that I asked for wasn’t given.
It was clear to me that it was time for a career change,
and I was told about a career professional opportunity here at Saline.
It consisted of working with students who had special needs.
I decided to look into it and when I did, I felt like it was a good fit for me.
Working as a parapro
for the last three years has been very rewarding for me.
I have learned, as I did in my sociology class many years earlier,
to be empathetic to others.
The students have taught me to look for the joyful moments,
and each day that I am given to show compassion for others,
and to enjoy being a part of a team.
I’ve realized how to be generous with my time,
and even how a quick twenty-second encounter with someone
can give hope and happiness to someone who really needs it.
There was another moment in my life right after I graduated from Saline,
that impacted me in a powerful way.
I was a freshman in college attending a school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It was the first time in my life that I was living
on my own about 1000 miles away from home,
from my family, my friends, my comfort zone.
As a new student, Things were not going well for me.
The adjustments to college was harder than I thought it would be.
Prioritizing my time, my finances, not having a car were challenges.
I wasn't doing well in my classes and I wasn't really happy.
I made some choices that I wasn’t proud of and I started to feel alone again.
I had been in school for about two months
when a particular interaction with someone changed my outlook on things.
I woke up late one morning for my 7:50 a.m. class,
I got up, hurried around the dorm room, getting ready for my class,
but I knew I wasn’t going to be on time and I was frustrated.
I ran out of the dorm building
and I knew I was only about a minute or two from my class building.
There really weren’t a lot of people around on campus,
And I was maybe now seconds away from the building.
I suddenly saw someone crossing my path.
It was a girl and she was headed from my right to my left.
As I approached her, I realized she was in a wheelchair.
I could tell that one of her wheels was stuck in a crack in the sidewalk.
She was trying to maneuver the wheelchair,
out of the crack with the joystick.
But it wasn’t working.
She looked up at me, and in that moment, I had to decide
what I was going to do with the situation.
My two choices were to continue running to my class and ignore her,
Or stop and see if I could help her.
I slowed down.
Walked up to her and said, “Hi”.
She looked up at me and said, “Hi”.
I said, “Do you need help?”
She said, “Yes”.
I bent down to lift the wheelchair up and out of the crack,
and I helped to get her unstuck.
I said, “Are you okay?”
She said, “Yes, Thank you.”
I got up, went to my class, she went on her way.
Interesting
I'd never seen her at school before that day.
And for the rest of the time there, I never saw her again.
Now, I shared this story with you because not only did it change my outlook,
on that day in particular.
But that moment has stayed with me for many years.
I feel like I have been given gifts, talents, strengths,
skills that can help other people get unstuck.
Can I tell you?
You've been given gifts, talents, strengths, skills,
resources that can help other people get unstuck too.
I really believe that there are people in your life either right now,
or coming soon,
that will be on a path intersecting your path,
and they’re stucked.
They’re stuck physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially.
And my question to you is:
What will you do?
They will be right in front of you and you can tell that they are stuck.
They aren’t able to get unstuck by themselves.
Someone has to help them get unstuck.
Will you ignore them and continue on your day, or stop and help them?
There are about 8 billion people on planet Earth right now,
And one thing we all have in common is we are all trying to figure out,
why we are here and what we’re supposed to do with our life.
If you believe that you were created for a purpose,
that there is a plan for your life,
then this is one of the many reasons why you are here right now.
You can go and change the world for the better
by helping people, who are in desperate need to get unstuck.
I really believe that.
A 20-second encounter with someone can change the world.
And it can change your world.
You can do it.
It happened to me.
It changed my world and it continues to change my world every day.
God bless you. Thank you.