I met an icon

It was my senior year in college at Emory University. I was hypomanic. Teetering on full-blown. There was a speaker panel going on in the auditorium. I decided to check it out. I remember initially not knowing who was there, but being drawn to a message of civil rights and unity.

Full of manic confidence, I walked up to the main speaker. I introduced myself. I told him I had dreams of fighting for civil rights. I told him I’d like to collaborate with him one day. He told me that he liked my initiative and gave me his business card:

Unfortunately, the dream of collaborating with that man ended the other day. But John Lewis was an amazing man. A civil rights icon. He walked with Martin Luther King in Selma, 1963. Was a United States Congressman for over three decades. He was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The country lost a true American hero.

It’s hard to believe that I once came across such an important figure in our nation’s history. That I had a brief conversation with him. He believed in me enough to hand me his business card. And that was when I was manic.

When I think of all the important people and celebrities I’ve met in the past, I get sad sometimes. What was the point? Why did I shake hands with this man? What did he see in me? Will I ever reach the potential I once believe I had?

While I may not ever become an icon, I do believe that there has to be more to my story. I only pray to have a positive human impact on society one day. Give a helping hand. Advocate in areas I know a lot about. Mental health. Police brutality. Criminal justice reform. Addiction. How much or how little will depend on what God allows. I’m just taking his lead today.