Notre Dame Club of Boston

            If there is one thing that I have realized this summer while working at the Boys and Girls Club, it is that each person has a story.  Each one of us is like a book just waiting to be read. It’s almost like we’re all books shoved together in a giant library just waiting to be pulled from a dusty shelf. Some books are more appealing than others, especially the ones that look brand-new.  Others are not as appealing and end up rotting away on shelves just because they look older and frayed. However, just because these less appealing books may not be shiny, brand-new hardcover ones does not mean that their content is worthless.  What if you were to pick up a very old and tattered version of Pride and Prejudice and decide not to read it because it looked so ragged?  I think it would be safe to say that you would be missing out on one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time.

            So far this summer, the saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ has crossed my mind many a time.  Each of us has a story to tell - a perpetual saga of ups and downs, twists and turns.  We’re all unique in our own ways, and each of our stories deserves to be heard.  Last week, I had the great opportunity to meet a wonderful young man named Jorge.  Jorge is going into his senior year of high school and is one of the older members of the Boys and Girls Club.  He has plans of going to school to study art or architecture.  As I talked with him about his future, he listed schools that were some of the greatest art and design schools in the country.  Jorge is such a talented student in the arts but unfortunately lives in a society where people are often judged solely by their appearances.  If one were to judge Jorge based on his appearance, he or she probably would not guess that he is so gifted in art or that he has such a great work ethic.  Jorge has many tattoos along his arms and often wears very baggy clothes.  He mentioned that he is often falsely judged by his appearance and is taken to be just another dangerous teenager growing up in Lawrence.  If someone were to believe these false and unfair perceptions of Jorge and decide that he isn’t worth getting to know, then he or she would be missing out on meeting such an extraordinary young man.  Jorge has lived a life of poverty in Lawrence.  Just recently, he has had to deal with the deaths of two close relatives - his sister was murdered in New York and his cousin drowned to death.  Both of these horrible events happened within a couple months of each other.  Yet, Jorge’s upbeat personality and drive for success conceal such pain that Jorge has dealt with. 

            After Jorge had finished telling the others volunteers and me about his life, one of the volunteers asked him, “So, Jorge, what is your drive?”  He replied, “Lawrence.  Growing up with nothing in the streets of Lawrence.”  So many times, I complain about such trivial things that don’t even compare to the scheme of things in the long run.  And then, I meet someone like Jorge - someone who has lived a life of poverty and instability and has been through so many horrible hardships – and I am reminded that life is a blessing that we should all cherish.  Jorge has endured so much pain during his life and yet still has aspirations to succeed in a career in the arts.  He has used the sufferings he has endured as fuel to motivate himself to persevere and to succeed. Although I was only able to talk to him for just a short while, I already know that he is one of the strongest persons that I have ever met.