Storycorps Podcast

I chose to listen to a Storycorps podcast entitled "I Should Have Died at Age 19." In this podcast, a special ed teacher named Ken Rensink is talking to his friend about a near-fatal car crash he was in when he was only 19 years old. He was partially paralyzed and he goes on to talk about how this experience has affected his teaching. He tells a story about how he didn't turn in one of his students who had been drinking before school one day because he knew that if he did, it may have been the breaking point at which the student stopped attending school. Later, he encounters the student, who now has a car, a good job and has finished school. The student says he never told Mr. Rensink "thank you" and Mr. Rensink responds with the sentiment that the fact that this student ended up being successful was thanks enough.

The conflict present in the story that Mr. Rensink told was mostly person vs. himself because he had to make the decision whether or not to turn in this student who had been drinking. There is also a person vs. object because of the fact that he was paralyzed in a car crash. It could also be argued that a person vs. society conflict is present because it is socially unacceptable for a student to come to school after drinking and this student beat the odds eventually and became successful.