This world is such a magical place.
It was 5:30 in the morning in the library, for this week i have to wake up around five since i have to work on so many different things as they’re getting close to the ddls (zerocon speech, blackhat submission, autogdb), the school schedule leaves me with no time. My world falls apart sometimes in the early morning, with a mixed state of impostor syndrome kind of thing, lack of direction and momentum; I am just down, and these moments really kill me.
The janitor of the library was there even before I arrived. You can see that he works really hard with no slacking. I had the impression that he loves to sing in the early morning (when there’s nobody), and he has a great voice, but we didn’t really chat much.
I was feeling down, with my airpods on, sitting at one of the empty desks on the second floor. I was at a stage of emotion where listening to John Mayer (my favorite singer) doesn’t really help. And just when I really was about to break down, the janitor walked by with the vacuum, asking what I was working on. We started to chat for a bit.
His name is David. He is from amaica, moved to the states 20 years ago. when he mentioned his son went to this high school, tbh I was a little bit shocked, since most students in my high school are spoiled kids with parents in finance etc. It turned out, just for his kids to get an education, David had to work multiple jobs a day. He worked under the table in restaurants, car washes… all just to get his kids to high school, then college. David just retired from one of his part-time jobs a month ago, but before then, he had to wake up at five, spend two hours at our high school for cleaning, then head to another car wash, then another restaurant. He did that for 20 years, until his kids finished college.
There were so many life lessons packed into that one conversation, i don’t even want to list them it feels like doing so would cheapen them. But that moment renewed me
It’s crazy how these sorts of conversations don’t happen more often, and the fact that this “pep talk” happened exactly when I needed it most makes me feel like it was more than just a coincidence. It felt pre-designed. I love how, despite there being so many of us, each person carries a special, unique story and path, and at some random point in time, those paths can cross and leave a real impact on someone else, just through these “ordinary” moments.
Probably my favorite “human” thing.