Three schools, five classes, undergrad, high school and grad school in three days this week. A colleague asked me why…why did I feel the need to talk to students from Montclair and my high school in Brooklyn, Xaverian and with my to grad classes at Columbia this week from Tuesday morning through Thursday night, especially with all that goes on with my “day job.’ What value was there in it? What could make it important to these young people with old stories that they might not even be interested in.
The answer is actually the opposite, and I mentioned it kind of off the cuff when asked by a student in Erin Weinberg’s class Tuesday morning at Montclair State about what’s in it for me.
“Because you tell us where you want to go, and we get to share where we’ve been.”
We learn from them…more than probably what we can share with the path we have been on.
I mentioned that line everywhere I went this week, as I returned to my alma mater for the first time in probably 15 years to speak to their newly created sports management classes. I was actually…literally…in their shoes as a high schooler when I started on this path I continue on today…and continued that discussion of curious learning on Thursday when my longtime colleague and friend Terry Lyons joined me at Columbia to talk about his path at the NBA and beyond…one which brought him to Abu Dahbi last week as part of his next stage journey.
If you don’t go, if you aren’t still curious, if you aren’t open to learning and listening and trying and showing up, you are missing the ability to keep growing, and with that comes amazing, undiscovered joy.
That growth, that joy, that willingness to show up, came around early this morning when I received the first of many messages about the passing of Sister Jean Delores Schidt at age 106. If you don’t know, read her obit here.
No one was more of a curious, ageless learner than Sister Jean. I was lucky enough to have spent some time in her orbit two summers ago, and with her passing today, was reminded of what a gift that moment was, and how, if I hadn’t made the trek and spent a few hours in Chicago instead of flying back to Newark early, I would have left that gift unopened.
What was that unexpected curious gift? Here was a description from what I learned.
It wasn’t the first question I was expecting from almost 105-year-old Sister Jean Delores Schmidt as I sat in her office at Loyola University on a warm Tuesday morning in Chicago, but then again sometimes when you just show up, you have to expect what isn’t on the menu that day.
There were several of those unexpected during this week in The Windy City, with the conversation with Sister Jean maybe bringing the most quiet takeaways
“I tell parents not to worry that much if young people question their faith, they will find God when the time is right,”
The time is right.
So when I’m asked my expectations for success when going on these various treks…am I disappointed if some kid outs his head on his desk or someone is looking at their phone, or there aren’t a great amount of questions…my answer is usually the same. If there is someone who maybe takes something away great, but what I learn from them is invaluable to me…because I don’t walk in their shoes or fully understand their POV but I’d like to learn more about it.
That’s what Sister Jean imparted on me, and thousands of others in her blessed life…keep listening and asking and YOU will learn, and we can never learn enough.
It’s why I went and found the time, to learn more, just like she did every day.
The time is right. Make the time. It pays you back in multiples.
Being Human, Teachable Moments, And The Reminder of ‘Beautiful Listening”…