In eighth grade, I had no friends.
I would get dropped off at school twenty minutes before the first class.
We had this bank of lockers at Perry Middle School. I’d sit on the ground by my own locker until someone came near me. Then I’d get up and find another quiet spot to sit. Until someone else came near. Then I’d move again. And so on…
Not everyone bullied me, but it was hard to know who would or who wouldn’t.
So I avoided everyone.
Nothing shaped me more than that year of my life.
Eventually, I’d make friends.
If eighth grade me could have seen that I’d be the student council president of my college, or speak to an audience of 50,000 people in one day, or act for three years in a Las Vegas comedy show, or star in a feature film, he wouldn’t have believed it.
But to be fair, he might not have cared.
Because what he needed was a friend, not a pep talk.
I needed someone to sit beside me.
Tomorrow I am going to tell this story about eighth-grade Joe. Because he is the real reason I do everything I do. At my worst I do what I do to avoid being alone again. At my best, I do what I do to inspire others to sit next to the one who is alone.
It’s what life is all about.
If you’re in Cincinnati, please come to my show tomorrow night.
Let’s commit to sit next to one another.
Yearly paid subscribers here get two free VIP tickets to the show tomorrow. Please email me at joe@joeboyd.net to claim them. You can also order tickets here.
