One Can Be Inspired to One’s Life’s Work on a Road Trip

Daily writing prompt

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

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A road trip is an opportunity to see parts of the world that you don’t see every day and a chance to participate in activities that you wouldn’t do at home. As you move down the unfamiliar highways and roads and visit museums or universities or monuments to everything from potatoes to the Bible, you can see the world from different perspectives, which can lead you to dream of what you will become in the future, something that might not have happened if you had never took a road trip.

In 1960 or 1961, our teacher took her class of fourth graders on a road trip to Nashville, Tennessee to Tennessee State University. She wanted us to see black people in higher education, so that we might dream of going to college one day. I was enthralled at the beautiful buildings and, having never left my hometown and traveled so far, I loved the feel of the road created when on long bus trips.

But, most of all, I loved seeing the black professors, with the robes flying out behind them as they ran across the quad and towards their classrooms. I watched as students greeted professors with respect and called them “Sir” and “Ma’am.” There was something in learning that black people were capable of great learning that touched my soul, and I never forgot how esteemed the professors were or of their kindness and smiles to their students.

Right then and there, I decided that one day, I wanted to be a professor at a black university or college, because even at that tender age, I knew that whites and blacks weren’t educated together. Of course, to be a professor in a robe meant going to college, and my mother couldn’t afford for me to take the SAT, so that dream seemed futile.

But, at age 36, I finally started college, and at 54, I earned a doctorate in Sociology. I actually became a college lecturer in my first year of the PhD program in 2000. From the first day standing in front of the class, I knew I was where I was born to be, and I loved teaching college students for nearly 20 years. I taught in integrated universities, which was great, because I used my history to inspire students to see each other’s humanity and mine. I didn’t wear a robe of clothing to class but I was robed in love for learning. respect for my students, and joy at doing what the Lord created me to be.

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