Where’s your Adam? Look for him.

This true story happened around a year ago.  As I was going through some files tonight, I came

across it. I find it a good reminder of our purpose.

Where’s your Adam? Look for him.

Do you have those days when you wonder, “Why am I here?” Do you go through periods with unhappy students and sometimes think, “Is anyone satisfied?” Do you internally question, “Is this the right path for me?”  Today was my day. 

Today was a day when it seemed that issues were coming from every direction. Every phone call, or so it seemed, was someone needing something from me, a student wanting to bend my ear about his or her latest woes, or a student telling me something ‘they’ didn’t do or that ‘they’ had told him or her incorrectly—never remembering who ‘they’ was, inevitably.

Around 1:00pm, I overhead a student, we’ll call him Adam, talking with the cashier as he was paying for academic transcripts.  He was 19 years old, and I heard him say that it had been his life-long dream to become a fireman/EMT—following in the footsteps of his uncle.  Although I couldn’t see him as they were conversing, the smile on his face was shining brightly through his words. He was ordering transcripts to send to a local fire department where he had secured a job—his dream job!

As he paid and left, the cashier and I talked about his attitude, how excited he was, and what a great take-away with which she and I were left. She added, “Did you see the picture he showed me on his phone?” I did not see the picture as I was unable to see him from where I sat.  She said that it was a picture of Adam as a child—a boy wearing a shiny, red fireman’s hat! It truly had been his dream to become a fireman.

~ ~ ~

Adam, and those like him, give us the drive we sometimes need. Adam, and those like him, give us cause to come back day after day, year after year. How many Adams do we have? You may answer, “Not many” or “not enough.” How many Adams, though, do we encounter if we only pay closer attention? We have more than we think. For the unhappy or unsatisfied students who seem to speak the loudest, there are many, many others from whom we won’t hear a word. They come to us with hope—a need, a goal, a dream, and we help them along their individual journeys.

Look for your Adam when you’re having a day when things don’t seem to be going well. He’s there, and it’ll make your day at least a little bit better and brighter when you find him.

Those questions that I found myself asking earlier in the day—Adam answered those for me without me ever saying a word.

Jody Darby

Chattahoochee Technical College (GA)