Gemotions

The email arrived late at night, the harsh light of her laptop illuminating the devastating words. The scholarship, the answer to her prayers, was a clerical error. It was meant for someone else, someone whose future she had, however unintentionally, disrupted. Her throat closed, and a wave of nausea rolled through her.

The next day, the campus felt different. The familiar faces of her classmates seemed to look at her with accusation, though she knew that was her own guilt speaking. Every happy conversation, every shared laugh, felt like a cruel reminder of her own good fortune. She found herself avoiding eye contact, keeping to herself.

She took a deep breath, and the thought occurred to her, "how would I feel if this happened to me?" With this, she resolved to act. She started a support group for students in financial difficulty, and began to mentor and guide others.