The world needs more people like my new-found friend, Bacari. I’m sitting here in the library, frustrated that my TCU password has just expired and I can’t log into my account, and here comes this wonderful familiar face. He spots me through the many rows of computers, doesn’t just give me a smile and say “what’s up?” but actually gets out of his chair and walks over to meet me half way–to ask how I am doing. What a simple, beautiful gesture to make.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many people like Bacari in my life. I would say that the majority of my closest friends, or longest friends, wouldn’t even get up to make that kind of effort. They might shoot me a “Hey Kendall” then get back to their busy day, and that’s fine, but that’s not Bacari. Bacari is a burst of beautiful, loving energy. Completely self-less in everything that he does. He works for the apartment complex on campus, goes to school full-time, hardly knows a soul at this school, and travels a couple days a week to take a class off-campus at UTA. And he is STILL the happiest person I know.

He doesn’t care how busy his schedule is, he doesn’t complain that he doesn’t have a car on campus, and he doesn’t pity the fact that he spent Thanksgiving with a strange family that he met in one of his night classes. It doesn’t phase him. All he focuses on is how grateful he is to have someone kind enough to invite him for Thanksgiving; how he’s getting a second chance at a class he failed last semester; and how he can make someone else’s day better. And that’s the true beauty in Bacari, a beauty that I long to one day possess. And let me tell you, I have a really long journey ahead of me until I can be like him.

Being self-less is one of the most difficult things, in my opinion, for humans to do. Because by nature, we are selfish, self-loving, self-obsessing creatures. Wanting the best for ourselves and then wanting the best for people around us. You know, to be honest, I don’t think the majority of my friends are truly happy for me when I succeed. It’s not that they don’t like me, but that’s not human nature. You can’t fault them for this imperfection. Because it’s not out of meanness. It’s simply being human. But truly spectacular people can transcend this jealousy and are truly happy when people they love succeed. And I think Bacari is this in the most perfect form.

I almost idealize him in a sense. Because he can make me happy no matter what. It’s crazy because it’s not like we have known each other for years; it’s not like I have spent countless nights with him getting to know each other… He is a friend of a friend who I have also cultivated a relationship with, and have come to really cherish him as a person.

I am challenging myself to be a little more like him. I wish that everyone who encountered me could feel 1/100th of the way that I feel about Bacari. I want to be able to bring this glimpse of happiness to a stranger, a friend, my family, or my boyfriend. I want to be the shining point in someone’s day. I know it’s very possible, because I already have the foundation, but it’s people like this who make you realize that simple things can make you stand out, and maybe you really mean more to people than you even know.

I also challenge anyone else to do the same thing. Next time you don’t want to say hi to someone, don’t just look at your phone to avoid them… Give a simple gesture of a smile. Everyone just wants to feel loved and I believe that something so small can really change people’s overall outlooks. I know that he has shaped mine in a very short time period.

So today, tomorrow, and even the next day, try to be a little more like Bacari.

Cheers,

Kendal