I got a LinkedIn request from a name that was familiar, but I did not know exactly why. I clicked Accept and shortly thereafter got this message:

“Bob! Great to see you and your profile…glad to see you are running your own show! Looking back over the years, you are one of the people I am very thankful for…my freshman year at Vandy, as I was shy and away from home for the first time, you were a constant source of kindness. Though I never told you, I really appreciated you being so welcoming and I liked knowing you were just a few doors down on our freshman hall.”

As a junior in college I was a Resident Advisor on a freshman hall. This was 1983, some 30 years ago. I was immature and self-absorbed. I am still working on these problems today.

And yet something came through, something well beyond my capability and understanding at the time.

Some grace.