By Dalton Black-

It’s finally college finals and graduation season for the winter semester. I’m happy to say that my semester at Morehead State has finally ended, along with a few thousand others. Some are even happy to say that they graduated within the last few weeks, but with graduation comes some goodbyes as well.
Sadly, I had to say so long to my friend Shannon, who became very close to me in just the few months of this semester. The first few weeks I knew her were rocky since we just were both as stubborn as could be and didn’t think we had anything in common, but one morning while I was enjoying coffee on the back porch, we had a conversation that went for about two hours. We found that both of us had a love for our time in FFA and showing livestock. We talked about each of those topics and ever since we have been very close friends.
It wasn’t the fact that just those two topics made us friends, it was the fact that we both had identical goals for our time in each and identical goals for the future. Shannon was originally from Delaware, which is where she went back to after graduating in December. The last conversation I had with her I told her, “Remember, this isn’t goodbye. This is just a see you later.”
Many don’t realize the number of friendships they’re missing out on due to not seeing all sides of a person. It took a few weeks for Shannon and I to realize we practically had the same mindset. I’ll admit I probably have had a few people I just didn’t click with at first and never gave a second chance on, I’m human. It happens. I just think many of us should step back and give those second chances more often, knowing that this example is a prime possibility of what could happen. What happens is if we get off to a negative start with someone, we automatically think that we won’t get along with that person. That shouldn’t be the case at any level.
We need to reach out to those people that we experience this with. I am grateful that I happen to love coffee and mornings on the back porch, which allowed me to sit with Shannon and have a conversation that we otherwise may have never had. It has made me realize that we all make mistakes on thinking that someone is somebody they aren’t. Another thing is that we need to maintain our friendships. There are so many cases that are like mine which we never will talk to that friend again in our lives and not just because life takes us in a different direction; most of us also don’t even try to maintain that connection. I encourage everyone reading this to just take 15 minutes to connect with an old friend who you haven’t talked to in a long time, just to see how they’re doing. You maybe surprised at where that conversation will go, or more importantly, where it will end up at.
The Adams County Youth-Led Coalition is actively looking for new members who are outstanding youth who have an emphasis on leadership and community development. Meetings are scheduled for the third Friday of every month at 5 p.m. at the Adams County Health Department. For more information you may contact President Dalton Black via email [email protected] or find the Adams County Youth-Led Coalition on Facebook.