Chapter 15 - The First Seat at the Table
Monday morning arrived with the crisp, golden light of late summer filtering across the Hartwell State campus. Whitmore Hall looked identical to how it had when I spent nine years scrubbing its floors at dawn, but as I walked through the front doors carrying my briefcase and my lecture notes, the atmosphere felt entirely transformed.
The hallway outside room 112 was buzzing with students. Several sophomores and incoming freshmen stood by the doorway, flipping through their textbooks, chatting excitedly about their first college classes. As I approached, a young woman near the front looked up from her notebook, her eyes widening in recognition.
"Wait... are you the professor for Macroeconomics 101?" she asked, her voice tinged with awe. "Are you the one who gave the commencement speech?"
I smiled, unlocking the classroom door and pushing it open to reveal a pristine, sunlit lecture hall with a spotless blackboard.
"I am," I said, stepping inside and placing my notes on the oak podium. "And welcome to class. Today, we’re going to talk about how invisible labor drives the entire global economy—and why you should never let anyone tell you where you belong."
May you like
The students rushed inside, filling every single row within seconds. As I looked out over the packed amphitheater—faces bright, eager, and full of limitless potential—I noticed something wonderful.
There were no empty seats left in the back. There were no invisible people hiding in the corners. Everyone was at the table, and the math finally balanced out to absolute perfection.
