NEOSHO, Mo. — The way I see it, Jorge Zapata should go out and buy a couple of lottery tickets.
He’s due.
When you’ve had a string of bad luck, the best thing to do is bet against that luck. The worm has to turn, right?
Of course, Jorge doesn’t quite see it that way. Jorge thinks he’s been pretty lucky.
Here’s a quick review of Jorge’s luck:
Lucky Thing No. 1: Son Drey is born eight weeks premature and spends almost a month in the neonatal intensive care unit at Freeman Hospital in Joplin. Jorge, his wife, Alycia, their 3-year-old son, Diego, their 2-year-old son, Dante, and Drey celebrate Christmas at the hospital.
Lucky Thing No. 2: On Monday of this week, a fire severely damages the Zapatas’ house.
And:
Lucky Thing No. 3: On Wednesday, while driving to Crowder College, where he teaches agriculture, Jorge hits a patch of ice, flips his car over and suffers a broken nose.
Through it all, Jorge is still smiling. He’s still laughing.
“Why not?” he said. “I’ve got a great family and great friends.”
Besides, Jorge said, as funny as it sounds, things could be a lot worse. Jorge said Drey is home and healthy. No one was hurt in the fire, they will be able to repair and rebuild their home, and Jorge was able to walk away from his car accident.
“I’ve been blessed beyond measure. I’m on the right side of the grass. I could be burying people today but I’m not,” he said.
How strong is that?
My boss, Carol Stark, told me about Jorge. She heard about him because some nice folks at Crowder College sent in a notice promoting a chili feed and silent auction set for Thursday at the school to benefit the Zapata family. Turns out Jorge is a pretty big deal at Crowder. The chili feed started at 11 a.m. Thursday morning and I walked into the Student Center, where the food was, about a minute after it began. The place was packed and there was a line of folks waiting to eat. I asked one of the nice ladies at the table by the food what a bowl of chili would cost me.
“Three dollars,” she said.
I dropped a $5 bill into the jar.
“Everyone is doing that,” the lady said.
It took a minute before I found an open table and sat down. A minute later, two ladies asked if they could join my table.
“I can take it if you can,” I said.
The two ladies sat down. Turns out they were from Joplin and were in a women’s club with Alycia’s mother. Several of the club members were driving down for the chili feed, the ladies said.
“The are just wonderful people,” one of the ladies said of the Zapata family.
A few minutes later, a Crowder faculty member sat down at our table. He told me that Jorge was an outstanding teacher and a better person.
“It doesn’t always work that way,” he said.
I mentioned some of that later to Jorge when I reached him by phone.
“That’s unbelievable. I can’t imagine. The whole thing is humbling and everyone is being so supportive,” he said.
One of the Crowder folks working the chili feed told me that the people at the college — the faculty, staff and students — are family. She said they look out for each other.
Jorge agreed.
“That Crowder family is not just a slogan, it’s a reality. I’ve had students, faculty and staff calling offering to help. It’s very rare to work in a place like that,” he said.
In particular, Jorge has been touched by how his students have rallied around him.
“I told them, ‘This isn’t right. I’m supposed to take care of you,’” Jorge said.
Of course, Jorge does take care of his students. On Wednesday, after his car was towed and he had his broken nose looked at, he went on into work. He missed his morning class but wanted to set up lesson plans for his students. The kids told Jorge he was crazy. They told him he should be home and not worrying about them, but he wouldn’t hear any of that.
“I told them that just because I had a car wreck doesn’t mean your life stops,” he said.
Jorge told me Thursday afternoon that he and his family will rebuild their house. He said Alycia will keep working at the horse-riding school she runs, he’ll keep teaching and they will keep raising their children.
And they will keep counting their blessings.
