Running. Rushing. Hurrying. Pushing. Scurrying.
It seems more often than not that this is how many of us live our lives. We hurry to catch the bus, we rush to make an appointment, we scurry to work - sometimes we get so focused on rushing that we become only mindful of ourselves and our priorities and forget about the people who are around us. We sometimes go too fast to see when we need to slow down for another who is placed in our way.
This was the final week of Term 5 classes here in Korea. There were term projects to hear, final tests to be given, and much grading and recording to be done. It was a busy and slightly stressful week for both students and teachers. By today, Friday, teachers were supposed to have all their grades and attendance records entered and decisions made on which students would pass to the next level and which would need to repeat. I now know, from personal experience, how difficult it can be for a teacher to tell a student that they did not pass the class, even though they did the work and studied hard. Trying to explain your reasoning to a native English speaker can sometimes be difficult enough. Now throw in the fact that this person brought someone into the room with them to help interpret my words and this predicament just got twice as difficult.
As students pass into the higher levels, they often need to repeat the level to increase their English conversation proficiency, comprehension, grammar, and pronunciation. Some students take it harder than others however. As Ray, a fellow teacher, and I sat in the hallway (because that's where we can get internet) and hurriedly worked on a power point project on Jamaica, which was due in a couple of hours, Romi, a wonderful young lady who has been studying at SDA for a little under 1 year, walked out of a classroom where she had met the ugly foe of failure. Her eyes and nose were the tell-tale red of someone who has been crying - hard and long.
Now, Ray and I could have continued working on the project. We needed to finish it very soon and when we continued with our morning classes, we wouldn't have time to work on it. We could have stayed in the fast lane and blown right on by this person who was broken down on the side of the freeway of life. Instead, I immediately told her to come sit beside me. I gave her a little hug and kept my hand on her shoulder. We didn't say much but kept quiet as her sniffling became a roller coaster of sound - soft then louder then a bit softer again. We told her we had just the song for her and up I pulled none other than Bob Marley's Three Little Birds. That was followed up with a good helping of One Love. After we finished the songs, we chatted a bit - Romi telling us why she was frustrated and mad at herself; us giving her encouraging words and telling stories about people who had failed or people who didn't understand why things didn't go as planned but soon found out there was a good reason. After about 45 minutes of this or so, we had her smiling and not thinking about her worries. When I met her in the hallway later that morning, we chatted for a few minutes. Then she looked me straight in the eyes and gently said, "Thank you". I knew that what we had done meant a lot to her.
In the span of a lifetime, taking forty five minutes to stop and encourage someone in need really isn't a great price. But it can do much more than you could imagine for the person you are encouraging. I have always been blessed throughout my life with at least one friend who always slows down to my speed when I'm only chuggin along at the speed minimum. They send encouragement my way and it rejuvenates me, wakes me up, gives me that extra boost I need to get going again. Think of a time when you were down and someone stopped to help you get back up. They said just the right words or did just the right thing to start you on your way again. It's one of the simple yet major acts we can do for our family, friends, and even people we may have just met. The next time you are hurrying through life and you see someone sitting in the wayside of despair, take a few minutes out of your day to encourage them and give them strength to get through the next minute, hour, or even day.
"But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called Today . . ." ~Hebrews 3:13
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