I don’t know what it is, but I seem to have this thing with helping people that are having a hard time with things, and usually they seem to be foreign.
It started in college where my roommate freshman year was a really cool guy from Korea who had just gotten into the country like that day. I made him a sandwich in the toaster and tried to show him some of the ways of the West. Later, I let him use my Social Security # so he could get a job doing after-hours janitorial work at First Union. It made me nervous because I didn't want to get in trouble, but he couldn’t' seem to find a job and it helped him for a couple years. Throughout college we had multiple Korean roommates, most of which were pretty cool, but all needing a little guidance.
Then just recently, I befriended a guy here at work who was trying to get back into school. He had a Bachelors Degree, but had some money problems and couldn't get a hold of his transcript. So anyway, I helped him out with finding a school that didn't require it and helping him figure out what classes to take, etc. Oh, and he was Honduran I believe.
I don't know what the point is here; I guess I am just reflecting on the fact that I seem to have a weakness for wanting to help out people with language or cultural barriers. I don't really know why. Maybe it's the Indonesian in me. Yeah right.
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