Talismanic implications

As part of the series of events from the talisman experiment, I am working as a tutor in the math lab at school. Today was my first day. I wandered in and found the senior tutor - hopefully in a few years he will be able to buy his own beer.

After being shown the ropes for about 15 seconds; I took a seat to see how the process worked. A few kids working on 2nd or 3rd semester calc had a question that I haven't seen in 20 years. I directed them over to the senior.

I then realized the reason I was there. Looking rather lost, was a woman about my age. She looked at me and said

" Are you the new tutor?"

I stated that I was and introduced myself. She started asking questions and dragged over her algebra book. We went over to one of the white boards and started working. At one point she looked at me and said "Hey I am sorry I am slow at this, I am dyslexic and I haven't had this for 20 years."

I thought that she was going to cry when I said "Don't worry so am I".

After an hour of working on word problems learning to set them up, she felt good about her upcoming test and I realized why I was there. As I was leaving for my Calculus class she told me, "You know there are more of us in class... when do you work?" Suddenly I realized that I am there to fill a need.

I am not saying that the universe says here I give you x now I take y. It is more of a pleasure to serve. There is nothing quite as cool as seeing the lights come on for someone who has been struggling with something that they think "Everyone else gets." If I can smooth one edge for people who are struggling then in my little way, I have made the world a better place.

Speaking of which I better get to my homework.