Don't Be Sheep

When I was in college, there was a particular professor that would speak at assemblies every quarter. He was an incredible public speaker and really knew how to rock you to your core with his messages. I couldn’t wait to reach the age where I qualified to take one of his courses. I really idolized this guy…to me he was like Batman.

Finally, senior year, I applied for all of my classes and his was on my list. Something happened with the systems over break and for whatever reason, I was not in Professor Batman’s course. When I called the front office i was informed that there was nothing they could do and the class had been filled. No seats were left and the waiting list was absurd. I was distraught.

Instead of sulking, I decided to take immediate action and went down to see the gatekeeper for the department. She had pointy librarian glasses that had a lanyard attached to the frames. She was sweet but stern.

With a smile on my face, I politely informed the Mother Goose that I was for sure going to be taking that course during the semester and I simply needed to talk to the person that was going to make that happen. (My guess is it wasn’t going to be Mother Goose). After a couple more hoops, I made it into the Professor Batman’s office. I explained my story to him and pleaded my case.

In the end, he was so impressed with level of dedication i had shown that he expanded his classroom another seat, something he had never done before. That semester ended up being one of my greatest learning experiences ever and it was because I was able to take his course.

I share this story with you because I see too often, people who just follow the crowd and never stand up for themselves. It would have been easy for me to simply say, “It wasn’t meant to be” when the systems malfunctioned. But the beauty of living in a human world is that through conversation and debate, there are very few things in life that can’t be negotiated. We are not sheep.

I can’t imagine going through life just following the people in front of you. Stop walking on the sidewalk. Walk in the grass. RUN! You are not a sheep. You smell way better.