“I was nineteen or twenty. I was becoming aware that I might be gay. My parents were very religious, so they took me to ‘conversion-like’ stuff. It wasn’t full therapy, but I had to sit down with the pastor. And it left me convinced I was going to hell. It wasn’t until I left for college that I finally had the space to be myself. But since I was cut off from my parents, I needed a way to survive. So I applied for a job with the janitorial staff. The Head of Facilities was named George, and he was scary. He was the one who’d write you up for drinking alcohol. And he had this huge set of keys on his belt. So if you heard him coming, you ran the other way. He told me years later that when I asked for a job, he could tell I was going through something. So he gave me a chance. I followed him while he did his rounds. He showed me how to fix things around the dorm. And the whole time we’d talk. He was this conservative, blue-collar, white dude. But he saw me. We became so close that people teased me about our friendship. He’d ask about my day. He’d ask my opinions. He knew I was gay, but he didn’t care as long as I showed up on time. After work one day, when we were finished sweeping up, I sat down with George on a bench. I was feeling depressed, so I told him: ‘I’m done. I can’t do it anymore. I’m dropping out to join the Army.’ That’s when he told me: ‘You’ve got some college under your belt. You should go to West Point instead.’ I’d never even heard of West Point. I began to research the school, but everyone else discouraged me. My basketball coach laughed at me. It began to seem impossible, especially because I was doing it alone. But George encouraged me. ‘You have a real shot,’ he said. ‘Just apply.’ So I did. And I was accepted. I went on to get an MBA from Wharton and now I’m working in finance. But George has fallen on tough times. The college closed down, so his job disappeared. And he recently lost his son. I know he’s in a lot of pain. He’s like a father to me. He calls me all the time. We say ‘I love you.’ So I need him in my life. I just want him to know that I see him. And that he matters. And he did a whole lot more than fix things. He fixed people.”
