Connections

Today was a day of connections. Most days are. See something and instantly cull a memory from some deep part of my brain that I haven't heard from in a while. The parts of the mind that transcend individual, egoistic moments and perhaps live in the collective unconscious of all of us. Parents, childhood, life journey.

Driving toward a rising sun I saw a herd of cows munching on the green grass in the golden hour of early morning. I stopped to commune with them and yes, we talked. I mooed, they mooed - it was perfect. Then I noticed the ear tag and the connections dove deeper into the crevices of my brain. I have a cow's ear tag hanging in my office at work. It's from a cow that my parents sold to pay for my books during my freshman year in college. I'll never forget how I felt when I told my parents I had no money to buy the books that I needed for my classes at the community college. We had no idea things would be so expensive. They sold the cow and gave me $300. I bought books and eventually, years later, went on to law school. The power of education is something I truly believe in. It's not just for the rich and elite - education is a basic human right - a need we all have. I think that's why I fled the practice of law and settled into a life in higher education. So many folk are disadvantaged and don't have the confidence or the funding to believe they can achieve their dreams - let alone obtain a college degree.

Every day that I start the car to go to work, I'm reminded that in some small way, I'm helping to make it possible for students to believe in themselves in new and exciting ways. If I can help remove just one barrier to a student's dream by working with a team of committed faculty, staff and administrators, then it's been a decent career, I suppose. Who knows what one successful student can accomplish? I believe it's a whole lot more than I'll ever even begin to imagine.