Thread by @padresj

When I was teaching in Los Angeles, I noticed that some of our scholarship students would go without food at lunch. So I got a mini-fridge for my office and started stocking food with an open-door, open-fridge policy.

I'd have about a dozen students come by my office (connected to the computer room in the library) every day.

Sometimes to chat.

Sometimes just to eat.

Always as a safe place.

Maybe 6 months into my assignment, some of my wealthy students came to me to complain that they weren't allowed to eat in the library while those "other students" were.

They were good kids, making a valid observation. They saw other students getting a privilege that they wanted.

I sat with a few of them and made them a deal: they could eat in my office at lunch, but it was a strict, "no judgement" room & they had to respect their fellow students.

They agree and the next day I started getting a mix of students for lunch.

By the end of the day the wealthy students had figured out what was happening... and I was worried that it would lead to taunting.

... But a strange thing happened the next day.

Early in the morning, before class started, a few of the wealthy students showed up with groceries for the fridge.

They came for lunch, sat with the scholarship students and ate from the same fridge. To my knowledge, they never told anybody where the food came from.

Some of the friendships started in that office continue today... All because a few young adults not only decided they should share some of their bounty w/those in need, but were also able to look PAST the need and see people with whom they could form friendships.

I still fall back on those lessons-learned to this day:

"People can sometimes surprise you... And there is always room for grace."