SHELBURNE – Research shows that when we tune into the news, we are likely to hear what we want to hear. Why not listen for love?
Monday, October 14, was a special day. David Simas delivered the 2024 Gentry Lecture, which was endowed by Stokes and Mary Jane Gentry, founders of Wake Robin. This year, the lecture was a conversation: “Listening To America, Working For Change: A Conversation With David Simas.”
David spoke for about half an hour about his lived experience as the son of Portuguese immigrants, his time working in the White House, and as President of the Obama Foundation. No lectern, no notes, from the heart. Now as managing director of Research at the Emerson Collective, David says it’s always been his job to listen. His remarks were followed by a conversation moderated by Candy Page, our resident journalist and member of the Gentry Committee. After an hour of conversation, we gave David a long, standing ovation with tears in our eyes. Politics had evaporated into possibilities.
David spent the next two hours chatting with residents, listening. When I had dinner with him afterwards, he noted that Wake Robin is an amazing place, full of interesting, curious, involved people. He wants to come back and listen some more. He gave me a big hug.
David and I met on Zoom at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Our paths to the Obama Foundation were very different, but we share many interests. We were introduced by Amira El-Ghobashy, who worked for the Obama Foundation and attended a WholeHeart Intergenerational Leadership Exchange in Greensboro. There were 45 people on the Zoom. The topic was education, one dear to both our hearts. Kindred spirits find each other by listening and asking open and honest questions. David and I were listening for love and found it.
I am deeply grateful for WholeHeart’s Listening Practices, which continue to warm my heart. (wholeheartinc.org/programs) I have been part of the Weekly Oasis for the last five years. I have friends I haven’t met yet in person all over the world, from down the road in Vermont to France, to Lebanon. My prayer list is long. Learning to listen to my own heart and to the open hearts of others has changed my life. Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” I would add that, “Love favors the prepared heart.”
We all yearn for love. October is my birth month. Here is my birthday wish: In this world fraught with fear, let’s listen for love.
Trish Passmore Alley holds an MBA in Organizational Development and Behavior. A published author and poet, her career has included teaching at the collegiate level, owning several small businesses in manufacturing, engineering, and retail, and founding and operating three social profits in Greensboro, A published author and poet, she posts brief, monthly blogs at gracefulmischief.com/.When her column refers to Grace, it is a presence in her life, and it is capitalized. She now lives in Shelburne.