Thankfully enough in this world we live in, each and every day we awake has different delights and blessings to offer. You can find delight in something anywhere you go: love, inspiration, revolution, these are what we live for, the highs wouldn’t be what they are without the lows. A high I never knew life could provide me with was the delight of meeting new people.

College in itself is such an experience unlike any other, opening the door to others’ worlds. As each and every person passes, we’re seeing a new face, with new windows to a never before seen soul. It’s an incomparable phenomenon, getting to experience the intimacy of sharing of another’s life, their story, learning what makes them themselves and why. When you sit with another human being, and take the time to learn the ins & outs of them. What someone thinks about when they wake up, when they go to sleep, what makes them happy and what makes them sad. Learning what makes someone angry, what was the name of their first love and why did they fall in love with them, if they’ve had one, that is. The opportunity to get to know who their family is and what they’re like. I imagine getting to truly know someone new

as holding their delicate heart in my hands, caring for it as fastidiously as humanly possible, as though it were more important than my own. It’s something like reading a book you’ve never read before, except you’re far more likely to be interested in the story. The more people you meet, the more perspective you gain, not only on them, but on yourself, and life in its entirety. I used to think it futile at times to spend my time speaking to people I didn’t really know, but that changed for some reason once I reached my senior year of high school. A switch within the person who is my own — me, myself, and I — had flipped. Some may not think it to be so enjoyable, but I personally find the unwrapping of the gift that is community amongst humanity to be a newly acquired delight of mine. I

Your breath, while temporary, is the most important currency that you possess in your life. Why waste it when you can sit and hear the story of another? Appreciate the value of the most important currency, that’s somehow unknown to man, instead of us all continuing to depreciate it. Take it in as though your ears were an ATM, and their words were money. You can learn such valuable things about the world around you and the people in it. I met a woman who’d expressed to me how lost and alone she’d felt in the world. She spoke it so clearly to me from the inside out. I read the cover that was her outward appearance that said so. I went on to read the words behind her cover with my ears. I heard all about her life and what had led her to where she was, why, and how she ended up sitting in the chair in front of me. I listened intently, sheltering her experiences, feelings, and thoughts that we as a human race all share: sadness, family predicaments, loss, heartbreak, as well as delight, and all other things that figuratively made up the ink on the pages before me. I delighted in being able to let someone

who was suffering mentally and physically know that in this world of selfishness and strife, people who aren’t too self-absorbed to hear someone else’s story do in fact exist.

I met another stranger. That stranger is the person I’ll live and sleep in a room with for the next nine months of my life on this Earth. And in this 18th chapter of my life, with the subtitle that now reads “college,” I’ve had the privilege to get to know him, not only through his words but his day-to-day actions that speak volumes about himself and his character. His drive for success and his work ethic are something I feel connected to him through, and it’s inspiring to see someone share that drive, even though it’s for a different interest. His fire inside is the love for the game of basketball. He wakes up when the rest of the world sleeping soundly with their dreams on their pillow, while he chases his. His loss of sleep not only contributes to his success on the hardwood, but also to my perspective on him, and the world around me. Being able to know that I share with my roommate such a drive and passion for success brings me continual new delight. I can only hope to get to know this human being God has placed in my life better, and deeper than I do now.

Altogether, getting to know new people is beyond a delightful experience. You gain a new love and perspective for those around you, along with life itself. It’s truly something I never knew I could find such an appreciation for in my days that I walk this Earth. As God continues to author my story, I am privileged to hear the stories of my fellow works in progress.

Xavier Taylor, Hillyer ‘24, wrote this essay for his Effective Speech class and recorded it for an upcoming WWUH-FM program to be called UHart’s Book of Delights. It is inspired by poet and essayist Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights.