How this instructor’s lending the student a helpful ear, to offer her the assistance, to assist this young woman in getting the help she needed, had made, all the, difference in her life, translated…
The curfew of my dorm was from one at midnight to six in the morn, and as soon as the time comes, we get, locked down, and of course, traffic accidents, or things that came up abruptly won’t count. It was past the curfew that night, I was about to call it a night, then my doorbell rang, a female classmate, looking pale, and sounded winded told me, “I’m sorry professor, to have called you up this late, but I am dizzy, and having a headache, I’m completely out of it, I need to get to the E.R.”
As a dorm super, what I’d hoped that I don’t encounter are these, midnight crises. But, this student’s manners was, very well, and I’d immediately started up the S.O.P. of dealing with these sorts of emergencies. “Why do you have a headache, do you know?”, finding the reasons, she’d not covered up, responded, “I’m on medication from the psychiatric department, and I’d had the side effects of headache, dizziness, and this time, it’s my body that feels, completely, limp.” “It’s already this late, do you have someone to go with you?”, and, I’d calculated, that the female officers of the dormitories are already, asleep, that I am the only one she has, to take her to the hospitals. “I’d already asked my classmate to go to the E.R. to sign me up, and there’s a classmate who’s waiting out by the front gates to take me to the hospital.” “Okay, you’d handled that very well”. And, I’d calculated, that because this wasn’t a solitary occurrence, it should be no problem, and I’d not forgotten to commend her on how well she’d, handled herself.
“Would you like me to wait up for you?” Waiting up for someone who’s coming after curfew is no easy task. “It’ll be too late, I’m worried it might impact your sleep, so after the E.R. visit, I shall go sleep at my classmate’s home”, such a courteous, and empathetic young woman, truly rare. “Then, watch for safety on the roads, and, tell me the results of your checks.” As I saw her off, I’d, started filling up the paperwork, and I’d gotten a text from her, “professor, I’m already done seeing the doctor and called my families, and after I’m done with the drips, I shall be staying overnight at my classmate’s”, so that was that, she’s at the hospital, and someone was there for her, and I’d felt better, and went to bed.
At eight in the morn the following, I saw her dressed up, readied to go out, I was surprised, and concerned, “why don’t you take a day off? Where are you going this early?”, “to work, and I’m all right now, I’m sorry for the intrusions last night.” She became very spirited and talkative today. “Aren’t you going to take a day off work?”, and, in the words we’d exchanged, she’d told me that her mother had left home, and now, the household relied solely on her father’s measly wages, and, it was hard enough for him to make the pay to raise up her own younger siblings who are still in school. “I’d taken out the student loans, and made my own allowances through part-time jobs”, although, she’d looked a bit, taken, but, she’d, expressed herself with that sturdiness, that bravery about her.
My heart went to this girl, don’t know why she’s on the medications from the psychiatric department? And she’d, slowly let her guards down, told me, “I was once, sexually harassed.”, then she’d stopped talking, because this was a sensitive, personal matter, I’d, nodded, to show her that I’d understood, “I hope you can heal up soon, so you won’t need to rely on the medications anymore, if ever you need help, or just want to talk, my door is always open.”
Watching her leave, I’d thought of the yearly counseling seminar I’d signed up for, and the lecturers would always sum up at the very end, “the instructors at school can all become, counselors, taking actions in time, visiting with the students, to listen to them tell you what’s going on in their lives, all of these might be able to prevent something tragic that may occur.”
I’m truly glad, that I can, help this, young woman out.
So, this is how lending a helping hand made you realized, the importance of lending someone that needed ear, and, had this dorm supervisor just, brushed this young woman off, she may feel helpless, and, she may become, withdrawn, because, what she’d experienced, wasn’t, easy, getting sexually harassed in her past.
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