Today's Lenten Meditation: Building Relationships Through Love – While Standing in Line

It was more than the right place, right time. What transpired on a recent Sunday afternoon was my proof that both new and old relationships can intertwine in meaningful ways when love is the motivation.

By love, I mean agape, the love of Christians for other persons, modeled on the love of God for humankind. With that definition in mind, I set out for a midday gathering in Laurel. My goal was to hear the remarks of Maryland Senator Cory McCray, author of The Apprenticeship that Saved My Life, Guidebook to Navigating the Earn-While-You-Learn Opportunity of a Lifetime.

A book-signing would follow his presentation, and I planned to buy a signed copy that I could pass along to young people. Perhaps the teens at a Christ Church partner, St. Luke’s Youth Center. Or the teens who participate in the mentoring organizations associated with Columbia Community Care. Sure, I’d have to do a little networking to reach those who might benefit, but I was willing to make the effort given what I’d heard on the radio about McCray’s career.

My invitation to the event grew out of a relationship dating back more than 40 years with a journalism colleague, Sheilah Kast.  For the last decade or so, I’ve made it a point to attend an annual brunch that she co-hosts with her husband, Maryland Sen. Jim Rosapepe of Prince George’s County. He and McCray are colleagues in the state General Assembly. And it was Kast whom I’d heard interviewing McCray for an episode of On the Record on WYPR-FM. Hence, he was the perfect keynote for the event.

The VFW Hall was crowded. I had to wait in line just to talk to Kast, let alone the guest of honor. While waiting, I struck up a conversation with a fellow next to me, who turned out to be a college classmate of hers from the 1970s. Later I would again meet up with this Catholic University alum in the book-signing line.

He bought a paperback and asked McCray for a personal dedication. Meanwhile the two of us and the author engaged in a lively discussion about mentorship until it was my turn. I had bought a hardback, intending for it to be passed from one person to the next. “No, no,” I said, “Don’t make it personal. Please address it to some unknown reader who, like you, will be inspired to turn their life around.”

McCray wrote: “May this book help to open one more door!”

Pleased with the inscription, I hurried from the hall to the next task on my to-do list. Let’s just say I was going from the sublime to the mundane…

Destination: the Walmart Supercenter in Laurel.

There I waited at Customer Service, impatient as precious minutes passed. But it would only get worse - at the cash register, I was told that parts of the computer system were down, and I would have to go to another Walmart. Resigned, I headed to a smaller store in Columbia, where I suspected its line might be even longer.

It was.

About a dozen of us took positions next to the supply of empty shopping carts, which clattered and squealed each time an associate returned from the lot and slammed more carts into place. I bantered with surrounding customers, making comparisons to the screech of chalk on a classroom blackboard.

I told the guy in front of me that this was my fourth line of the day, stipulating that the first two were worth it because of McCray’s book and speech. A union apprenticeship had created a path from arrests as a juvenile to wage-earning electrician. McCray went on to become a Baltimore entrepreneur and a state leader. It “opened the door” to meeting his full potential, McCray said. I flipped open my pocket notebook, quoting not just from the speech but from my notes on mentorship.

Soon I would learn why this Walmart customer was such an attentive listener. After I finished my transaction, he approached, gesturing with phone in hand. He had called his wife, an English professor at Howard Community College. At that moment, she was at home, working on curriculum for a course she teaches at the college’s new Workforce Development & Trades Center. Would I please share information about McCray’s book on apprenticeship?

“I can do better than that,” I replied. “Let me give you the book, and she can put it to good use.”

And so it was.

~ by Patricia F.