I wish I had said more

Friday's IDS yelled this headline in the top right corner of the front page: "Friends remember IU music student."\nAfter looking at the student's picture, I softly realized that I too remember Georgia Marriot, the IU senior who tragically died last Wednesday after a biking accident the previous day.\nI wasn't one of Georgia's friends, though. I don't know what her favorite color was. I don't know what she liked to do on rainy afternoons. I don't even know her middle name. I was just another guy in her ballroom dancing class last spring.\nThe only two things I remember saying to her on the few occasions we danced together were, "Hi" and "Sorry I stepped on your toes." I may have asked how her day was going once or twice.\nLooking back, I wish I had said more.\nHindsight is 20/20.\nI remember that she had a great smile and an infectious laugh. But so do a lot of other people, many of whom were also in our class. I don't remember saying much to any of them either.\nThere are over 30,000 people on this campus. It's ridiculous to think that one should get to know every single person here, but when we limit ourselves to the small circle of friends we've known since freshman year, we take the risk of missing out on the Georgia Marriots of this world.\nWe don't always have another day to get to know someone.\n"But what if they laugh at what I have to say and think I'm a complete dork?"\n"But what if they aren't alive tomorrow?"\nI remember Georgia never seemed embarrassed at the prospect of having to dance with one of the more uncoordinated guys. Some of the girls did. I remember the slight grimace on their faces when they learned that the older man with two left feet was going to be their partner for the Waltz.\nGeorgia always seemed genuinely pleased with any partner. She probably learned a bit about him or her as well. I'd like to think so, at least.\nThere are hundreds of people from my past who I wish I would've had the courage to talk to. Maybe even thousands. I'll never get that second chance to talk with Georgia. But hopefully when I walk by one of the other people from ballroom dancing, I'll ask them about their day. \nThat would be a start.\nToo many of us are afraid of being hurt by people we've never even met. I know I'm not going to change in a day. I know none of the people reading this are going to change that quickly either. But, I think it is worth the effort if it enables us to expand the group of people we know. There are thousands of people in this community, and chances are, at least one or two of them would enrich your life.\nSo, talk to someone new today. Give a friendly hello to the person you're sharing an elevator with. If you feel daring, ask them about their favorite color. "We've been reading her journals, and after reading, I'm so inspired to do better. I want to be more like Georgia," said Marriot's roommate, Shanna Davis in the article. \nSounds like someone I wish I would have known a little better.