I was able to facetime my mentor last week. My mentor’s name is Daniel and he is is an older friend that I’ve known since the 5th grade and he has been a mentor figure for me ever since. I consider Daniel my mentor because he’s been through a lot in life starting from a young age and despite the tough things that he’s been through, he chose to take care of me through middle school and high school by taking me out to eat and teaching me about sports. Because of this and many other things, he is someone I really respect.
During our phone call, we mostly caught each other up and ended our call with conversations about the NBA, our summers plans, and what’s been going on back at my home church. At the end of my phone call, there was one thing that stuck with me.
My mentor was extremely smart in high school and even excelled in sports. When it came to college application season, he found himself getting offers from D1 schools to play soccer and acceptances from the top colleges around the U.S. However, due to his citizenship status he was unable to get any financial aid. And not being able to pay for any of the universities he got into/got offers to play soccer for, he had to turn all of them down and attend a Cal State, which isn’t at all bad, but considering where he could’ve gone, it was a total bummer. I share this because, during our video call, he told me that I was blessed to be able to attend a 4-year university and have the out-of-state experience. I replied with a “nah” saying that it isn’t that great, reminding him that I never wanted to come back after one semester of my freshman year.
However, the more I thought about it, I found myself realizing that I should be more thankful. I came back last fall, after having really not wanted to come back, but reluctantly coming back anyways. I gave Wheaton another chance after my freshman year, and that semester actually turned out to be a really great semester. One thing I got out of this and my conversation with Daniel was to be and remain thankful because staying thankful and positive opens up (even the smallest) opportunities for us to see the good in even the worst and life is just more enjoyable if you’re complaining all the time. This conversation made me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for and that I should take full advantage of the opportunity that I’m blessed to have.
Hey Josh, this sounds like a really cool story. I like that your mentor is near your age, I think we should think of each other in that way more often. We talk a lot in this generation about how much the older generations seem to resent us, but I think that things would be a lot better if we didn't just resent others, but instead tried to be the difference among our society, looking up to those who are our age, and those who are younger. We gotta take the power back and 2 Timothy 4 it up. :) I'm glad you've found a place here at Wheaton, and I hope AIT has helped you out.
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