I got this in the mail today. No coming from address. No Name. Nothing. Just a written letter. This means that someone found out where I lived. Put this in my inbox. And took the time to pour out their feelings about a stranger to a stranger.

Wow.

1. I love getting mail.
2. I wasn’t sad about not winning (I don’t use the word losing). But this picked up any amount of hope I might not have had.

Thank you.

Begin letter…

You don’t know me, but I definitely know you. I promise i’m not writing just to get on your website (if this ends up there, then that is fine), but I’m actually a classmate of yours and we have alot of mutual friends. And you know…I’ve spent some time actually thinking about Homecoming since Saturday. I spent some time thinking about how surprised I was when a friend texted me and told me “that justin kid didn’t win.” How did this happen?

You know why, Justin? Becuase you didn’t make your campaign enough about you. You didn’t walk around barking the name of your sponsoring organization and telling people why they would really try and vote for you and hep you win. because it clearly wasn’t about that for you. You won anyway Justin. It was about sharing people stories about your life, helping them get to know you. You didn’t have a rock wall on the drillfield. you had you and your 2 friends. and your car.

A friend told me how many votes the top 2 guys got. Kyle got like 2300 and you got like 2000 I heard. I think that’s impressive. I hope your’e not disappointed that you wren’t crowned king. because your’e still king in the minds of over 2000 Hokies who may or may not even know you. Isn’t that crazy, Justin?

I don’t know you but i want to get to know you. i’ll be honest, the first time that i met you you didn’t remember my name. I thought you were an ass-hole. but watching you over the past few weeks, and seeing you everywhere really has shown me that you meet alot of people. and alot of those names you remember. Granted, my name i sjust Ashley, so its kind of common and easy to forget. But you are impressive in so many more ways than just the number of names you remember.

you don’t let that wheelchair hold you back. and if you’ve heard it once, youv’e heard it a thousand times – that’s an inspriation to everyone, everywhere, Justin. You don’t have any idea how just you living your life has inspired, even just me, to go out and lead mine better. because if you can do it, then why can’t i? that’s what i used to think. now i know that you’ve been blessed with a really special passion and a really special ability to make people listen to you. your’e a great leader, it seems. And people want to be around that.

I wish you the best with everything Justin. You changed people’s lives last week. you showed them what the power of passion can do. That other guy may have one and gotten that crown…[removed]…[but] You have to understand that he had his fraternity and a 900 member strong organization going. You said in my psych class that it’s you and your five friends running your campaign. Will people remember that you came in second? probably not.

But I can guarantee people will remember you. I know I always will.

You’re an inspiration. If you do anything in life, keep it up. Why?

Because you won.

_____________________

Thank you. I won.