Inspiring Stories

The following is a write-up on two teenagers who had fantastic life-experience in their teens. One was thirteen and the other was sixteen when they had great opportunity to understand life and its intricacies. The first boy of thirteen is Langston Hughes, an American man of letters and the second boy of sixteen is Booker T Washington, another American many years senior to Langston, a great thinker, educationist and African-American activist. Both were Afro-Americans.

It was the year 1915. Hughes was thirteen years old. His aunt Reed took him very often to the church nearby, that was being patronised by her and his uncle. The church witnessed the visits of many a sinner and their expiation. As a frequenter, Hughes knew all these things. One fine day the aunt took him to church, as customary, and there Hughes found, to his great surprise, a congregation of boys and girls of his age and younger than he was. They were all made to sit in rows on pews and a priest along with many sisters and deacons was trying to initiate them into the world of Jesus Christ. He called one and all lambs and informed them that the holy shepherd Jesus Christ was due an appearance before them inviting them to be part of the flock Him. Every one of the boys and girls sat on pews in great devotion and expecting the arrival of Jesus Christ. Hughes had a lot of expectation in looking forward to seeing Jesus in person, as he was told and brought up by his uncle and aunt, with stories from the Bible and the miracles that Jesus was credited with and the Kind Shepherd's love for the human-lambs.

The priest, the deacons and the sisters all sang choir songs in unison and prayed with avid. Slowly one after the other the boys and girls were responding to the call of the priest in joining him as each had been granted with the vision of Jesus. Only two boys, Langston and Westley were sitting there hoping for the vision of God. The relatives of the two boys began to worry much and the aunt of Langston came near him, knelt and started praying for the boy. Westley whispered to Langston that he felt bored sitting for hours and he could not sit any more and stood up and went over to join the other boys and girls who had already been seated opposite with adoration and reverence by the church-people. Now, only Langston remained. The aunt began crying, worrying about the boy. Langston was yet to feel the presence of Jesus. He had not appeared before him so far. He did not know what to do. He was afraid of joining them as Jesus might punish him for duplicating the act. At the same time, he found Westley, the rounder's (a security guard) son, sitting with the expiated, with a fine glow in his face. The gathering began joining everyone in praying for Langston. The priest calling out to Langston that Jesus had been asking him to join Him, but he only prevaricated. Langston decided not to bring much shame on the family. He stood up amidst great cheers and joined the group of the other side with the feeling of salvation. That night he wept in his bed. The aunt hearing him weep commented that he had been opened up to Jesus and seeing Jesus made him weep. But Langston wept for cheating his aunt and uncle and believing in Jesus and the fright in him that Jesus as of now never existed for him.

The second story began in 1872. Booker T Washington was sixteen and a miner. While working in the mine, he heard fellow miners discussing a centre for learning for the coloured, some where in Hampton, Virginia. The institution was the centre for higher learning for the coloured. He had himself seen some institutes, he had been part of a small school that he had been to when he was a little boy, but the thought of being a student of a higher education institute made him rapturous. He belonged to the South Western Virginia, that was far away from Richmond, the capital and Hampton. Still he decided to seek admission in the institute. He went home and informed his ailing mother about his dream. It was very hard on the mother who was frail due to illness and required great care. She yielded to the dream of her son. With very little money with him, Booker decided to trot the five hundred miles distance on foot or if he was lucky, hitching rides on some vehicles of transport.

He managed to reach Richmond several days after and found himself confounded by the mazy structure of the city. Moreover, he did not have any money on him. He went in search of some lodgings and found them available for only the moneyed. He decided to sleep the night somewhere. He was hungry too. In the end, he found a pavement near the road that could hide him from the sight of the passers by. He slept the night amidst the noise of footwear moving and tracking. He woke up the next morning to find himself near a ship yard. He approached a ship, from which cargo was being disembarked. He approached a white man, who was in charge of the unloading, and told him that he was hungry and wanted to do some work to fill his stomach with food. Impressed by the boy's openness the white man allowed him to work. Washington continued his work there for several days and spent the nights nearby the pavement and saved some money for his education and journey to Hampton that was some fifty miles away from the capital.

He reached Hampton and met the head mistress of the school. He was dirty and smelt sweat. His appearance did not guarantee a seat for him. She was admitting other boys but she did neither say no nor yes. After some time, she took him to the nearby recitation room that was dirty and in clutters. He was asked to clean the room. Washington became happy. He took that a chance to prove his mettle. He cleaned the room four times looking for places that never divulged dirt. The head mistress came back and used a white cloth to find dirt on the floor. She also reached places that housed dirt in secret. She had to satisfy herself with disappointment. She decided to take him in. That was how Booker T. Washington became a learned man.