Illumination

My first year of college was a pretty eye-opening experience. I came from a smaller town in Houston. I knew everyone in my grade. My freshmen year of college was a completely different experience. Every face was knew, although they looked familiar. New cultures, new languages, new ideas, new people. One person that I did, however, knew was my good friend Andrew. We both went to the same high school and just happened to attend the same college. We began to hang out often, since neither of us knew too many people in this new city. One day we were at his dorm room with his roommate in the midst of a conversation. Andrew's roommate said something off-topic in a derogatory fashion towards someone walking by their window. Andrew, the most sensible one in the group, retorted to his roommate's comment. He said about the man walking by, "He's just trying to live, man." His comment did not strike me as being as profound as it was at that moment. It hit me later that day what he was trying to say. Everyone is different; there are no two people in this world you cannot say are definitively the same person. No two people are wholly alike. This I understand. What I didn't understand, however, was that the man passing by that window was simply being himself. He wasn't pretending to be someone he wasn't or someone he thought people would like or accept.

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