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Can You Imagine…I Can’t

April 5th, 2022 by Kenneth Abrahams

Can you imagine being a high school student packing up your things and heading off to a boarding school? For some of you the answer is a resounding yes. Generations of your family have done it and it is no big deal. What if that school was thousands of miles away, in a country where you have no family and where they speak a different language than you? Still think that answer would be yes? Let’s add a few more things to the mix. How about if your visa is expired and you can’t get back home to see your family until you have a new visa or at least an appointment at the embassy to get a new visa? Add in that for a variety of reasons your parents can’t come to see you. Oh, I almost forgot that you are from a country that is currently involved in a military conflict that has global implications.

When we work events on college campuses, we usually have students helping us. Sometimes those students are assigned an hour or an hour and a half long shift while other times they remain at our station the entire time. Students are no different than the rest the population. Some of these students are sterling conversationalists while others are quieter and more laid back. Of course, a few are far more concerned with what is going on everywhere else but the event they are at. At times, the conversation is very one sided with me asking a steady stream of questions that are met with yes or no responses or the shortest possible responses. On occasion, I am even treated to more than a few I dunno’s in the dialogue. There are times when I am lucky enough to meet an individual with a fascinating story that they are willing to share. One of the fun things is you never know when you are going to run into one of those individuals.

Meet Tim. After loading in my equipment and getting everything set up, I had a student come over to let me know that she would be helping with the event at my station. She was a senior Finance and Accounting major from Long Island New York, very nice and very helpful as well. A few minutes later a young man named Tim arrived. Both students were wearing name tags (which I always appreciate) and he had an interesting last name. I asked how it was pronounced and he graciously responded stating that many people had difficulty pronouncing it. His English was outstanding but there was a hint of an accent. As I often do in these situations, I asked both of them how they had picked the school I was attending. For Lauren, it was a simple question of money, but for Tim the answer was a bit more complex and intriguing.

Perhaps I failed to mention that Tim is tall, six feet five inches with a slender build. When he first came over, I had asked him his height but didn’t follow it up with the question that many people do, which is whether or not he was a basketball player. Over the years some very tall people have told me that question annoys them, thus I don’t ask it. His story is a fascinating one. He was in fact a basketball player and that was why he moved to the states. It is unclear how it came about but he packed up and moved to Florida to play for an elite school down there. They are nationally known in a number of sports including basketball. After High school, he wanted to pursue a career that combined sports and marketing and is trying to get internships with local sports teams to work in their marketing departments.

This is the struggle that he and other international students face, that really resonated with me. Prior to the war with Ukraine, it was often hard for these students to get internships, especially if they are from Russia. Now with the conflict overseas, which he deemed “senseless bloodshed,” it is virtually impossible. Here is a bright, hardworking individual that is trying to navigate a path strewn with significant obstacles and yet he has an unbelievably positive outlook. We talked about the fact that a friend of his mother was attacked in France because someone overheard her speaking Russian. I realized that he and some of his classmates may also be targets, at some point, of that kind of anger. He is truly struggling with what is going on overseas because he knows it is wrong, but he loves the country that he was born and raised in. There is a difference between those in power and the common people that are just trying to live a good, honest, and just life.

We often complain about the hand that we have been dealt and the struggles we must endure, myself included. Then you meet a person like Tim, and you realize those seemingly incredible challenges are minor in comparison to what goes on in the world. Yes, I understand that Tim is not Ukrainian and that neither he nor his family have had to flee their homes or worry about bombs or rockets raining down on their heads while they sleep. He is safe, warm, dry, and well fed, but he is also in a country with no family support and a lot of uncertainty in his life.

My event that day was 3 hours, but for me it could have stretched into 6 without a problem. These paragraphs don’t do his story justice and I am sure I have omitted a lot of pertinent information. For example, his mother worked for Colgate Palmolive and was the head of logistics for Colgate in the Commonwealth of Independent States. He wanted to try and walk on for the basketball team at the college he attends but was denied the ability to even attempt. His roommate in Prep School, who also happens to be his closest friend, is from Ukraine and because of the war they did not speak for a little more than a month. So much to explore with this inspiring story.

There are few lessons here and none that relate back to FUN Enterprises. If you get the chance to interact with a person like Tim in this world, take time to engage and listen. When you are having a tough day, think about how fortunate you are that a war is not being fought outside of your door, or that you are not from a country where you have little say in those that govern the land and make decisions that have such wide-reaching impacts and where people hate you simply for where you were born.  Can you imagine what he and many of his fellow students have sacrificed to come here? If you can, you are a better person than I because I can’t imagine it at all.

By the way if you happen to know someone in the Celtics or any sports team that would welcome an intern in their marketing department, let me know. I’d be happy to connect you with Tim.

About the author:

Ken Abrahams has been with FUN Enterprises since the day it opened. His title is VP for Client Relations, but his passion is collecting stories from the people that he meets in his travels.

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