Jayson Blair

I am an introvert. This always surprises people. I have been called outgoing, charming and the life of the party. These things might be true, and while people have noticed that I like to get my social interaction in short bursts - coffee for an hour, short visits to holiday parties and quick conversations - they still have a hard time understanding why I consider myself an introvert. Simply put, I get my strength from within, and while external validation can be nice, its not nearly as important as constantly reconciling how I feel about myself. I have always strived for what Ralph Waldo Emerson strives for in his essay "Self-Reliance." I have to give credit to a good friend for pointing out my modus operandi, one that is only consistent in the since that I require a balance of others and myself. "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion," she read to me from "Self-Reliance," as she sat in a wooden rocking chair one night several years...

Traveling to classrooms at colleges and universities to talk about ethics, deception, substance abuse, mental health and a variety of other topics, has a redemptive quality for me. But as satisfying as it is to help see good come from my mistakes in the form of lessons learned, it has always been the human story that has captured me. As I give of myself, others give their stories back to me, enlightening me, expanding my base of knowledge, transforming me. These stories are all around us on a daily basis. Sharing can make it easier for others to share with you, but the key to formula here is as simple as can be, and involves nothing more than actually listening as opposed to merely hearing. I have learned that many people have stories that are similar to my own. The main difference is that my fall from grace and redemption play out on a large, public stage. For most, these are stories are only known to their families and friends, and, in some cases, stories that they carry alone, quie...