Every Thursday almost without fail when the clock clicks over to 11:30, I click a Zoom link and join a group of outstanding, smart, engaging, warm, wonderful people at Our Friendship Bench.
As a big anniversary approaches for ‘The Bench,’ we fortunate members have been asked to submit a short piece on what The Bench means to us, and why we keep coming back.
I’m honored to be a part of the Bench and as I said, barring wind, rain, dark of night, or plague of computer virus I click the link every Thursday for 60 more minutes of time with my Bench buddies. Why is that?
A few reasons. Someone once said ‘if you’re the smartest guy in the room you’re in the wrong room.’ Bench is thus just the right room for me, as I learn so much every week, gemlike insights into human behavior, reaction, perspective, or resolution. My life has been characterized by an ever-growing and ever more intense desire to know more, more, and yet more. I’m gathering in as much knowledge and hopefully wisdom as possible before the long, dark, and utterly silent night overtakes me, putting a stop to my search. The Bench serves that purpose.
Our Friendship Bench is perhaps the only place I’m able to be utterly vulnerable and openly-sharing with my own feelings and opinions, no matter the topic. To experience criticism or rejection there is inconceivable.
But what brings me back to that Zoom link every Thursday morning is something I realized only recently. The Bench is not transactional. There is give and take, for certain, but never with a commercial and/or monetary bent. No one is required to contribute; no one is discouraged from it. All of us are there for the warm and wonderful opportunity not found in many places today, a venue where we can truly be ourselves, without fear or favor, and are accepted.
It really is that simple, and that rare. The origin of the Bench goes back to pre pandemic times, remember those? Then we found ourselves benched by a microscopic coach demanding an oxymoronic social distancing. So thanks, Dennis and Ali for the welcome, and the amazing experience. Thursdays will never be the same.
Editor’s Note: Grab your seat alongside Byron and so many others any Thursday at 11:30 AM Eastern HERE
The BENCH provides great food for thought for many people. One of the best parts >> what happens on the BENCH, stays on the BENCH 😃
Amen to that, my friend. Thank you, Mariah!