Becoming A Student Again
Originally Published on June 30th, 2020
I drove past our local high school weeks ago and watched small numbers of graduates dressed in their caps and gowns, entering the school as students one last time to celebrate their graduation.
I knew that everyone’s journey to get to this special day looked different. I imagine that none of them escaped heartache and disappointment throughout their years at Asheboro High, chiefly of which was the loss of the final three months of their academic and social structure as they knew it. No senior prom pictures to laugh at in the decades to come. No final track meets or soccer games or home run hits. No early morning study sessions with their favorite teachers or sitting for final exams. No grand graduation ceremony filled with vibrant commotion and group hugs and after parties. In the final days of their home-town education, our youth became students of another kind of life lesson-- that of adaptation, of resiliency, of perspective-shifting. That of seeing problems and becoming a part of the solution. That of making changes that benefit us all. That of preferring one another over themselves.
I do believe we have all been affected in some way by this pivotal moment in history where the outcry of racial prejudice and injustice has become a booming voice in our nation. For me, this shift has caused me to wake up from just bumping along and doing life. As I watched the graduates I realized that maybe this interruption to my normal awakened a desire in me to learn again-- to become a student of people, of their stories and of the ways our stories are all interconnected in some holy way.
Over the past couple of weeks I have leaned into this desire to learn the narratives of our city, and as I have met with members in our community face to face, I have felt compassion and generosity grow within me. I have pulled labels down from the faces of those I don’t know and have made a conscious choice to say “I want to know you. Tell me your story.”
There is a kindness that is moving through our communities in Asheboro and County, longing to make its home in the hearts of people who will receive it, listen to it and not hold onto it but give it away with vigorous joy. There is a spirit of learning that has come to touch our minds and open us to a higher perspective, just like it has touched our youth, and usher us into a greater capacity to love, listen with kindness and engage compassion for the hurting hearts in our communities and our nation. There is an evident pain that is running through the racial divide in our cities. It is painful to touch. But it must be touched to be healed.
From the beginning, The Table’s mission has been to be a place of belonging for our city, a place of gathering for the sake of knowing those among us and us ourselves feeling known. Not for one group of people, not for some, but for all. As the leader of this mission and business, I am committed to becoming a student again, to learning, to adjusting, to paying attention to the interruptions and adversity that can rewrite the narratives of our neighborhoods and cities. Above all, I am committed to Love. “
‘For love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessings come to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame or disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in doing wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.’ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
-Dustie Gregson, Owner
