paper-storm:

Be a “come sit with us!” person.

I started a new high school in my last year, and when I walked into my first class, a guy named Sam, seated at a table in the back with two other guys and a girl, loudly said “Hey are you new??” I said yes I was, and he waved me over and said “Come sit with us!” He also demanded to look at my schedule, and he walked me to the rest of my classes that day so I wouldn’t get lost. He never hit on me, or wanted anything from me other than friendship. He was just genuinely a kind human being. To this day it both astounds and inspires me, that this guy, at 17 years old, saw a person at a brand new school in the 12th grade

where she knew no one, and had the maturity and confidence and compassion to understand that it’s hard to be an outsider, and took it upon himself to very publicly make it so that I wasn’t an outsider anymore. 

Humans are all just trying to make it in this world, and we’re pack animals who need social groups to survive, and nothing good comes from tribalism and exclusivity and only taking care of your own. My best advice to really anyone of any age is to be like Sam, and be a “come sit with us!” person.