919 all the dates this month are palindromes, folks.

Change is painful. I agree with that. Pain is educational. I have no idea what the change was, but I have seen it's effects.
There was a telling incidence with a young person from my student organization during my last year of college. I tried giving him one of my support letters. My routine had been to explain to all recipients the purposes of all of the objects that come with the letter. He fanned out the contents of the envelope and gave a grinning sidelong glance with his eyebrows raised. I thought he was just confused and stood there expecting to answer questions. Instead, he said, "Well, aw, I got some studying to do..." at which I thought, but didn't say "How much explanation could you possibly need? I'm in a hurry, too, son." but continued his sentence: "...but if you want me to give you some advice..."
I don't think I said anything to correct his epic fail in reasoning. I probably just walked away, royally ticket off at his audacity, and mad at myself that he felt justified in such condescension. I had a box full of the letters in their final format and I had stuffed them and prepared them to give to potential supporters. Any person who saw me as a competent adult would have concluded that all editing had been finished. I was furious that I somehow gave the impression that I needed help when I was trying to give it. Unfortunately, this person is still in college, still suffering from the same arrogant expectation that other people need him.

however, another recent interaction with another person from my campus fellowship's sister chapter went much better. She recently returned from doing a service I did two years ago. She seemed to have a lot of respect for my experience and wanted to know what had made me decide to go on to serving by teaching. After my incredibly painful time in college of being mostly talked down to and pitied by the students in my campus fellowship, it was amazing to actually be treated with respect by someone who had been in that circle. What I was used to was going on a service or training trip and being affirmed and appreciated by those serving with me, and then going back to my chapter and being cast aside as nothing more than a victim and a passive attendee. I also felt treated this way by members of our sister chapter. So to have someone from that school actually treat me as an equal was amazing.

What this led me to wonder what I was doing differently after all this time that triggered people to treat me better, assuming that this isn't just a fluke. Or was it that going through something I've been through led my peer to appreciate a level of maturity and sacrifice that others haven't recognized yet? Another thing to consider is that I haven't actually seen anyone from college in over a year. If they saw me now, would they treat me better? Would I make them want to treat me better? I don't know, but lately, that is or could be one of the changes going on.