A 'Meaning of Life' moment.

I had a course in college that I was reflecting on the other day. It was a Statistics class with an extremely bright instructor by the name of Dr. Wayne Brown. Here was an elderly man, fighting cancer and on chemo treatments as he taught. He had worked in many corporations and companies in his life. His knowledge was remarkable and his patience with the class even more amazing. Most would have probably considered him boring as he spoke of skewness and kurtosis and wrote numbers on the board like a mad man.


With the course being a two-part course, he stopped me one day during the second half. He explained to me that he felt like he had not given me a fair grade during the first class and asked my permission to change it to reflect a higher mark. He mentioned that when he did not feel right about something that he could not let it rest until he had made an effort to adjust whatever needed to be adjusted.


Of course I was not going to turn him down. Although I did learn quite a bit about statistics from that class, I learned more about integrity and perseverance. I would walk out late and see Dr. Brown sitting on the bench outside the main door waiting for his ride home. He always looked agonizingly in pain. I stopped a few times to ask him if I could assist in any way, he was gracious but always said he was fine.


Dr. Brown passed away a few months later. I felt deeply saddened by the fact that I never took the opportunity to sincerely thank him for teaching me the importance of not only being a human being, but no matter what your personal circumstance most importantly how to treat other human beings.


This is how I believe we need to act towards one another. Natural tendancies draw us to being caught up in the mundane. Losing sight of true purposes and priorities tend to cause the greatest commotion. Integrity and honesty are more valuable than grades, accolades, or wealth. Even in the storms of life or the tempests of confusion it is not wise to sell out these traits in exchange for vain purposes.