A Beautiful Story

In my final address to Wabash College, I told a story I often tell in my classes; about an emeritus professor at Virginia Tech who gave his life for his students. A former student — and good friend — of mine, Bob Cassady, sent me a classroom story of his own today, via e-mail:

“Over a beer my buddy Michael Thomas, who lived at the Catholic Worker, told me a beautiful story. He said that a seminarian of Holy Cross, who had completed a few years of a Math PhD before entering seminary, was teaching at a prison a few years ago. He taught math and philosophy. One day during class the riot alarms went off. As the sirens blared, the seminarian looked out from his desk at the twenty prisoners sitting in his classroom. He was alone. All at once, to his horror, they stood up and began walking towards him. To his surprise, however, the prisoners all linked arms in a circle around the seminarian protecting him, their teacher and friend, from any potential harm. That is love.”

Love indeed.

SR