May 16th, 2022: A Short and Unexpected Conversation

 

Sometimes little things mean a lot. I already took my seat on my flight home on Saturday when a young Muslim was having a hard time putting her luggage in the overhead compartment. The flight attendant did not want to help her by citing some regulations. She was just not tall and strong enough to do that. I asked her to take her seat next to mine while putting her bag away. I told her that I could help her. The flight attendant just quietly slipped away.

She said thanks and then asked me whether I was going home or on a trip. I told her that Calgary is my home and asked her the same question. She is a research scientist in neuroscience. She was on her way to Banff. She has wanted to do that for a while. She then asked me about the book I was reading. It was about Mentoring.

She told me that she respects her Ph.D. thesis supervisor, but he is not a mentor. She has some reservations about how he conducts his private life. I then asked her what she looks for in Mentor. We ended up talking about many aspects of it.

Integrity: It is the consistency between our public life and private life.

Listener: Caring is listening. Listening opens pathways to understanding and sympathy.

Wisdom: Our willingness to reflect on the mystery of God and our courage to embrace that very same mystery grants us wisdom.

Availability: We cannot mentor someone without making time for that person. Time is the best gift that we can give one another.

The flight was not long enough for such a conversation. It was not about science but God within the context of human learning. I am grateful for it. I told her to let me know when she gets her thesis done. God is good.

Matthew 28: 19-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Psalm 119: 130

"The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple."