My Story/college

My Story - Mathias Hieserich

Mathias Hieserich
Student Leader - University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Well, here I am again. In my favorite armchair in my Minneapolis apartment. TV on March Madness. Homework I have no plan to finish until I absolutely have to open in another tab. The strong desire to eat but no motivation to cook anything. A pigsty in my room I ought to be cleaning. Everything is the same, except for that it’s completely different.

Students Today Leaders Forever believes that leadership is revealed through service, relationships, and action. Through Pay It Forward, young people across the country have the opportunity to engage in all of these aspects.

Every person has a story, and here are a few small pieces of mine.

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While handing out bread at the Open Door Mission in Omaha, NE, a young girl approached the table Tatiana and I were staffing. I asked her what her name was, and she froze instantly, hesitant to speak out of some fear of charity or other reason unknown to me. Tatiana and I both introduced ourselves and offered her a quite delicious looking cookie that had been on the table for some time. Again, she did not waver from her position entrenched in what I assume to be mistrust. However, after some coaxing, she opened up, took the cookie and some buns, and share her name with us: Shara. As she walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder where in the store even her mother was and where she would go from there. Shara returned to our table not 5 minutes later, a black garbage bag hoisted over her shoulder that nearly tipped her sideways from its weight. She bounced right up to me, exclaiming “I got some milk and it’s HEAVY!” and bounced away again, so delighted in her conquest of the Mission’s wares. Moments like these are those that really touch my heart; I don’t know Shara’s story, but the joy on her face over a cookie and half-gallon of milk certainly lays the context for it. What happened next, however, moved me in a way that I had not expected when I arrived at the Mission that morning. An elderly woman had been browsing the Mission, had accumulated multiple bags, and was struggling to carry them all. Suddenly, as if from out of nowhere, I see the head of Shara, a tiny girl with her own burden already, amongst this woman’s bags. Shara grabbed what was likely more than her own body weight in bags and assisted the elderly woman to her vehicle. If this is not the epitome of Pay It Forward, then I don’t know what is.

—

It was Night 4 of the Pay It Forward Tour. Camped out in the basement of a church in Cheyenne, WY, the Ptourdactyls had just finished the Walk To The Core and Shoulder Tap activities. The PMA in the room was palpable, as if someone had gassed us all with laughing gas. Focusing on the task at hand, I had let myself get caught up in prepping for the next day. However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chao, the lovable Asian sensation who ALWAYS wore a smile, with tears streaming down his face in the corner of the room. Sunny and Jessie were already there attempting to comfort him, but I was so intrigued b this behavior that I felt compelled to speak to him myself. I approached Chao, gave him a hug, and asked what was wrong, and what he said next I was not prepared for. Chao was so surprised and confused about why so many people had tapped him on the shoulder in the last activity. He couldn’t comprehend initially just how big the positive effect he has on others really is. It was as if the reciprocation of a tap on the shoulder had pierced directly though his body and touched his soul. This is the magic of the Pay It Forward Tour in it’s truest form. The depth and complexity of the relationships built in such a short 9 days is quite literally unmatched in almost any other scenario. Coming home from my first Tour last year, I found it impossible to sleep without my 42 other bus mates around me. Had it not been for the utter and complete exhaustion of leading this year, I’m sure it would have been the same. The bonds of laughter, trust, and love built on that bus and in those dimly-lit circles become galvonized in shared stories, photos, and memories that the harshest winds and sands of time cannot erode away.

—

Stepping off the bus in Minneapolis on the last day of the Tour was likely the most bittersweet moment of my entire life. Bitter was the fact that it was over, that I would not be surrounded by these incredible people every hour of my life, that I was being forced to return to the doldrums of everyday college life. Sweet were the hugs I received from just about everyone on the bus, the envelope full of Yeah Buddies I couldn’t wait to read, the inseparable bonds I had formed, especially with my bus core, and the immense sense of fulfillment and satisfaction I had because I had taken action. I have an extraordinarily large fear of failure. Often there are times I let it prevent me from even beginning or trying to achieve something because I wouldn’t be able to handle myself should I not succeed. However, inspired by the strength of my core last year and the mission of STLF, I and my core had actively created, planned, and facilitated a truly life-changing experience for 39 individuals, and I’m not sure I have had a better feeling in my entire life.

—

Well, here I am again. In my favorite armchair in my Minneapolis apartment because it’s the best place to reflect and write. TV on March Madness because the silence was so discomforting. Homework I have no plan to finish until I absolutely have to open in another tab because I had no time to do it all week. The strong desire to eat but no motivation to cook anything because all my food spoiled while I was on tour and I have nothing to cook. A pigsty in my room I ought to be cleaning because I had made a huge mess when packing for the best 9  days of my life. Everything is the same, except for that it’s completely different.

For Simone Wai, Blake Rowedder, Grace Bredeson, & Jessie Liu

For Kaylord Hill, Kayla Kelsey, Anne Slisz, Cory Stewart, and Laurel Mosca

For all of my Ptourdactyls

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I love you all.

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