In this article, the author shares his experiences as a professor of English at Monroe Community College in New York. He compares teaching at a community college as something similar to transporting lost souls across the River Styx. He relates that the open door admissions policy practiced at his school has given him opportunities to reach out to formerly "hopeless" students. He realized that many students had failed because of cultural differences. Students that are abused, depressed, or saddled with intense poverty, ADD, addictions, handicaps, or other "issues" live in a different culture from that of students who are healthy, wealthy, and unscarred. The open door policy has made him understand that society's measurement of knowledge and success are relative and often arbitrary.