Unsung Heroes

Last week, I had to quit on one of my runs.

I was supposed to run at least six miles, and with my husband by my side, I was sure it was going to be a fast (for me) run. Then the wind, my tired legs and the heat hit me, and I was struggling to get to the halfway point.

Afterwards, I was so disappointed in myself. With about a year of running under my belt, I could count the number of times I had quit a run: two.

Now, I'm not the fastest person out there, probably because I walk about half the time in all my runs. But, I'm not a quitter. A whiner, a complainer, an "Are we there yet?" kind of runner, yes, but I have always felt I would rather be a complainer than a quitter.

The reality is that there will be times when you'll have to quit something that you love. There will also be times that you have to try several times to achieve some success that will come easily to others.

I think at school, particularly at ACC, the issue of quitting comes up a lot. Should I drop this class? Should I withdraw this semester? Should I give up on this math assignment from hell?

On a daily basis we are given choices for our future. In an institution best known as "Start Here. Get there.," I don't think we give enough credit for staying here.

So many students at ACC are non-traditional students looking for that second, third, and fourth chance. They have had to drop out of school when they have gotten pregnant, when their family needed the income, when they became homeless, when they moved to another state and for many other reasons.

The fact that they have temporarily quit school does not make them quitters. If anything, it is more of a long pause when they return.

Five years and three colleges after I graduated from high school, I received my Associate of Arts in Creative Writing from here.

I quit and gave up on school multiple times, but school did not give up on me. Starting college is exciting, and getting your degree at the end is even more exciting. The unsung heroes lie in the middle, deciding every day whether or not to quit. Keep up the good fight.