For HelpLine Awareness Week, The Battalion will publish daily guest columns written by HelpLine’s volunteers. As anonymity is a concern due to the nature of HelpLine calls, The Battalion has granted the guest columnists the use of pseudonyms. 
My toughest challenge becoming a HelpLiner was redefining how I helped people. From the moment the caller’s first words escape their lips until they hang up the phone, they are the most important person in my universe. What they want is what I want. What they need is what I need.
I wish I could just say a magic combination of words that could fix their problems. I desperately want to take away their hurt, their pain. I ache for their comfort. I wish I could just tell you, the caller, what to do to fix everything. To step in and save the day. 
But I can’t. I won’t ever be able to. I can never know what you’re going through — odd are, I know nothing about you. I want to help, but how bold of me would it be to step in and tell you what to do? That’s unfair, and worse, disrespectful.
So I took a step back from trying to fix everything. As difficult as it was, I tried to listen. It took some mental rewiring, but I started listening more and talking less, and something happened. I discovered a skill I didn’t know I had — I learned to be present. I know now that I can be there for someone as long as it takes, whether it be two minutes or 200. I can be there for the worst of times and the best of times. And while I might not have a solution to every problem, I can be there for as long as you need me.
And that’s a promise I’m willing to make.
Wesley, 
Class of 2017