Believe in me

Have you ever had a mentor? You know, that near-mythical creature: wise, experienced, generous, encouraging, inspiring. She takes you under her wing. Or his. She points you in the right direction. She, you know, makes a few calls.

 I haven’t.

 What I’ve had, at various times in my life, are people who believed in me. They didn’t mentor me, but they expressed, in small (unexpected) ways, that they thought I was capable of great things.

 Of course, you have to believe in yourself, but when you’re 8 going on 9, you may need help. That’s when Mrs. Fox, my teacher, gave me a list of books she thought I’d like to read. A special list. Just for me. Because she saw my early passion for reading. Because she believed I could become the voracious reader I would become.

 Some years later, it was Mr. Hawkey, ramrod straight, starched collar (equally starched personality) Mr. Hawkey, Mr. Discipline, Mr. Hard-ass – my 11th grade English teacher – who said to me, as I exited his classroom on the last day, “Don’t waste your talent.” Wow. Mr. Hawkey thought I had talent.

 Otis Pease, the best and most brilliant professor I’ve ever had or could hope to have, treated me with quiet respect. To be respected by a man like that was almost overwhelming. It made me want to be worthy.

 And then there was a brief encounter with Robin Morgan, a name that might not be familiar to you these many years later. Robin Morgan was a pillar of the second-wave feminist movement, the co-founder of Ms., an author, a poet, a national voice. A big deal. She was delivering a speech on campus, and I got to introduce her.

Her speech was powerful and humble, warm and hard-edged, funny, smart, lyrical, raw, galvanizing. Everything. I had never been that close to someone who radiated such energy, whose energy filled a space so completely.

 I knew a lot about her. I had spent hours researching her to write the introduction. She knew nothing about me. But after the speech, when I ran over, beating the crowd, to grasp her hand, she looked at me, really looked at me, and said: “Lauren, you’re up next.”

 And that’s what I needed.

 That’s what all of us need: People who see our potential. People who believe in us.