About a month ago we had serious rain every day for about 8 days or so. I'm talking major rain. I got a call from a neighbor who needed a ride somewhere and I took them where they needed to go. On my way back, I was passing through a shopping area in front of a Best Buy. I watched a young man put a back pack on that was wrapped tightly with a clear garbage bag, presumably given to him by the people at Best Buy. He didn't have an umbrella and he had on canvas sneakers. He looked to be around 19 years old or so and the first thing I thought was...he has a laptop in his backpack that he's trying to protect from the rain.
He started walking in the rain and I pulled up next to him and asked him where he was going. He told me he was trying to get to the transportation center in our area. Since I'd pass it on my way home...I told the kid to hop in.
He got in and I could tell his Converse were already soaked through. Turns out he was picking up his laptop from Best Buy. They'd had it for 2 days fixing it and he needed it to finish a project for school. He was doing his prerequisites for Nursing School at Montgomery College. I asked him how he got there and he said the bus...cool. Then he told me he was going to try and go home to change before he had to catch the bus to work. He works at the hospital as one of the people who change out bed pans and whatnot.
When I asked him how long would it take him to get home from the transit center...he told me the next bus would come in about 30 minutes but it wasn't that far to the street he lived on. When he said the name of the street and well...it was less than a 10 minute drive from where we were so I told him I'd take him there.
The young man was staying with family friends in the area so he'd be closer to school since he didn't have a car. He caught the bus to school, to work, to places he could study. He put in the work. It was obvious that it took a lot to do what he needed to do but he did it.
Yall ready for this?
He'd just received his citizenship a year ago and he was DAMN proud to be an American.
I dropped the young man off and watched him sprint through the rain to where he was staying and I drove off thinking of the young people I know who can't even be where the hell you tell them to be to be picked up on time. Or the young people I know who have to be reminded to eat. Or the young people I know who walk around with their head in the clouds la-di-da-di-dahing...
They ain't got nothing on that kid and from where he's standing...they were born with everything.
