Cheryl Hughes: Try

Mon, 02/24/2020 - 9:56am — Diane Dyer

One afternoon, tucked in amongst the loads of mail in my box, there was a promotional brochure for Berea College. The college is located in the Appalachian region of Kentucky and only admits students from low-income families. Most of the students come from southern Appalachia. None of the students are charged tuition, but all the students are required to work while they attend school.

The school archives contain a simple post card from a former student, Charles Isbill. The post card is reproduced on the promotional brochure. Charles wanted a college education. He didn’t have the funds to attend a traditional institution, but someone told him about a college, located somewhere in the mountains of Kentucky, that was willing to help students who were willing to work. The year was 1935, and the someone who told Charles about Berea had no idea that the college was even called Berea and had no idea how to get in touch with admissions at the college. Charles was determined to get an education, so he sent a post card to the following address:

To the president of a college

Somewhere in Kentucky

Where boys can work their way through

School do not know their address

Post master of Kentucky

Charles attached a one-cent stamp then dropped it in the mail. The post card made it to Berea College. Charles Isbill became a student at Berea and went on to become a dentist.

I’ve thought a lot about that post card and what it took to get it to Berea College, and what it took to get a response back to Charles Isbill, and what it took for Charles to even try. Because everything has to be exactly right—you have to write everything correctly, put everything in the right place, affix the right postage and get it to the right post office—Charles Isbill’s scenario could not very well happen in today’s world. There is no reading between the lines and no room for human error. Actually, there is no room for humans to be human. That seems to be the hallmark of the current age.

I know a little of what it’s like to have to try like that. I applied to a college, I got accepted, and I moved to a different town. I worked at a restaurant, to which I took a cab back and forth to my job, and I saved money for college tuition. I was afraid and somewhat lost, but I had to go forward, because there was no feathered nest to which I could return. I was too poor to afford ducks, so I did not have them in a row. All I knew to do was try, so I did.

I have days when things go sideways. I can’t get the new Valvoline order site to download. I need air filters. I begin to complain. I say things like, “What am I supposed to do now?” The answer is very simple. It comes immediately. Try. Find the support number. Call. Stay on hold till somebody answers. Go through all the trouble shooting tips. Get connected to someone who will take the order over the phone. Place the order.