Paul

I was a trembling freshman, desperate to seem confident and secure, while my parents drove away. Slowly climbing the three flights of stairs toward my room, listening to the echo of my steps and not making eye contact with the strangers passing by, I felt completely lost and alone. Months ago, I had been excited about going away to school, but the reality made me long for home. As I made my way down the shiny linoleum hallway to my barren room, a boy with curly hair and a soccer ball under his arm came up to me with his hand outstretched: “Hi, I’m Paul. A bunch of us are going outside to play soccer. Want to join us?”

It’s been 40 years since that moment, but each September I remember it vividly. As I think about all the students who, like me back then, are arriving at schools for the first time, I pray they come across a Paul, someone who reaches out their hand and asks them to join in.

Of course, such a prayer is not just for students arriving at school. It’s for you and me as well. We pass many "new students" each day, just as we become new when we branch out and go beyond the world we know. When we find the courage to venture out and try something new, may we be given a person who extends a hand, or may we be the one extending ours.