The one touch on my back by my sincere classmate changed my entire view on the potential I have in order to make a difference in peoples’ lives. From that moment on, I began to realize that the little things I do are actually appreciated by others.

In our small groups on junior retreat, my group and I walked into a room separated from all the other groups. Not knowing what was intended for us to do, I sat on the ground patiently waiting for instructions.

The day had been coming to an end as I looked outside the window to see the sunset over the pond, creeping behind the woods. Once the teacher told us how to play the game, everyone, especially myself, got really eager to play. I could not contain my excitement. As I was sitting in a circle not facing anyone with my eyes closed, I kept pondering on who was going to touch my back, which meant that I reminded them of what was being said at the time. Every time my back was touched, I would get a trickling sensation inside of me. I got the chills because of the fact that my classmates chose me for being funny and other topics that came about, which really touched me as well.

The topic that stuck with me the most, however, was the one pertaining to which classmate they wanted their children and the person being tapped children to be friends. When I got picked for this, I wanted to see more than anything in the world who had tapped my back. Knowing that someone cares about me and thinks that I am that valuable of a person made me feel like I had a ball of fire being lit inside of me.

When my turn finally came for the opportunity to tap people on the back for what I believed pertained to them, I felt like the king of the world. I knew that when I tapped someone on the back, I was making an impact on their lives just as I had been impacted as well. Little did they know that I was the one that tapped some of the people in the room. What still gets me the most is that I will NEVER know who tapped me, and no one will ever know who I tapped. It is almost as if we were touched by angels.

Unfortunately after about an hour or so the game came to an end, and my group and I met back up with the rest of the junior class that was on retreat. Although I was trying my best to pay attention to what was going on, I could not stop thinking about how much the game made me feel like I can do anything I want to do and be anything I want to be. Playing “touched by an angel” allowed me to trust people more and help me feel like what I do on a daily basis, even if I am just smiling or saying hello to someone, really impacts others and their views on me as a person.

I also found that after the game I had the courage and strength that I did not have before to go up to others and see how their day was going or to take that extra five minutes to make sure my classmate was okay. Before playing the game, I do not think I would have ever gone up to a classmate that I did not really know and see how they are doing. In fact, I feel like playing “touched by angel” truly inspired me to be a better person. I know that when I perform any sort of action, people are always seeing either the good or the bad in what is occurring.

As I lay my head on the pillow in my room, I knew something new was a part of me that I did not have before I came on the retreat. With some of my friends surrounding me in the same room, the entire situation seemed all the real. I truly felt that by playing a simple game showed me the importance in life: to not worry about material things and what is going on next weekend, but to cherish each moment experienced with others because that is what life is about. Learning from others and realizing how others learn from you and view you as someone who they look up to means the world to me. On the way home the next day, as I was looking at the never ending Lake Pontchartrain while going over the Causeway, I realized that the bond between my class has grown a tremendous amount in just two days and no one can take that away from me.