Author: Kate

Throughout high school I worked on a farm in my hometown. It was your typical after school job complete with some animals, long days, and enough money to burn on Fridays out with friends. Though it meant little to me in the grand scheme of things, it meant more to the one coworker I had who did the job full time.

He had never graduated high school. At 25 years old, without a high school diploma, manual labor was his best career post, but he was committed. He worked 7 days per week, except for the one full week he took off each year over winter break to go hunting. He was thin and scruffy looking with long unkempt hair and a taste for beer that superseded most people I know. Like any redneck, he drove a jacked-up truck with hunting club stickers on the back and dog boxes filling the bed. He showed up to work each day and did whatever needed to be done on the farm, or whatever the owners could come up with for him to do. Though I was never particularly close to him, we did our job together until I left for college without looking back.

Why does any of this matter? Well frankly, to you it doesn’t. You don’t know him and you never will. Last night at 3am his father showed up at the farm to inform the owners that he’d passed away in a tragic accident. Today, through the grapevine of my small town, I too was given the news.

You don’t know him, and even though I did his death is not particularly personally painful. Like finding out that someone who happened to go to your high school died, it’s tragic yet you are largely unaffected. Yet, when I called my former employer to offer condolences for the man she’d introduced as her son, something struck a heart string.

He’d had no large role in my life. Nor in the United States, nor the state, nor in the region, and, not even really in the larger local community. He hadn’t become the EMT who saves lives, the mayor who keeps everyone’s lives up and running, the journalist who exposes corruption or anything overly involved. He was a 25-year-old high school dropout who worked on a local farm.

But, you know what he was? He was exactly what the wonderful people I worked for needed. He was their unrelated son, the butler to their White House, and the friend when they were in need. He was always there to smooth out their problems, ease their concerns, and fill whatever void life created for them.

He didn’t save the world, and arguably he didn’t save himself. He saved the two people who employed him. In his short life, he made the world an exponentially better place for those two people just by showing up every day and doing his job, like Mrs. Landingham in The West Wing.

Every 15 minutes someone commits suicide. Every 15 minutes, for whatever reason, someone who feels their life has no purpose or as if the world would be better off without them chooses to end their story. Who were they supposed to save? Who did they inadvertently help every day?

Take a few minutes and look around. We aren’t born into this world knowing who we’re supposed to help, and truly we probably leave it without knowing too. But everyone makes an impact, everyone makes a difference for someone. Whether you’re failing in school, or struggling at work, or living pay check to pay check wondering what this is all for the answer probably lies right in front of you: we’re here for each other.

The person you save isn’t always you, and it’s not always a crowd either. Sometimes it’s your neighbor or your best friend. Sometimes it’s that stranger you smiled at on the work or that little girl whose dog you caught after it ran off. The differences we make in the lives of others are not always visible to us, but they are always present. Never doubt that, and never doubt the value your life holds ever day, whether you see it or not.  

As a college student at a college with the best food in the nation, its such a struggle to stay fit and eat healthy for a number of reasons.

1) The dessert options are always on point. 

You're strolling through the dining halls and every single place has something chocolate covered or piled high with whipped cream. It's all too easy to get sucked into buying that tuxedo cheesecake just this once (and then twice). To top it off the ice cream shop is open until 2 am. Midnight milkshakes anyone?

2) Working out can be a hassle.

Class at 10, lunch at 12, meeting at 4, and a 12-page paper due tomorrow? Guess i'm skipping Zumba to make time. Especially in the busiest parts of the semester (i.e. exam week) it can be difficult to make time to head out and stay active.

3) Sleep can become nonexistant.

A big part of staying healthy is getting enough sleep and giving your mind and body some down time each day. However, when you're trying to maintain a social life and all your suite mates are up late, that 8am class and the sleep before it seem a little less important. Then you have all-nighters to finish homework and going out on the weekends; bye-bye shut eye. 

4) It's cheaper and easier to make bad dining choices. 

So pizza is $0.99 a slice and the salad bar is $7.99 per pound. Plus pasta, philly cheese steak, and even Chinese food are only $5.. and, let's be real, after a long day no one craves a salad. 

5) Your friends either make your fitness goals 10x easier, or 10x harder. 

Either they're the ones pushing you to work out or to get that midnight milkshake. No further explaining needed. 

Obviously most challenges can be overcome with a little effort and determination, but sometimes getting in shape can be a pretty big challenge by itself. Here's to those of you who make it look easy- i'm still getting there.