More Than We Could Ever Need
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
I am moved by the juxtaposition of it all.
Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was dining at Capital Grille in Manhattan, on West 51st Street. I had a perfectly prepared salmon, and for the table we ordered, and promptly devoured, the Lobster Mac ‘N’ Cheese. I had two glasses of a nice white wine, and after dinner, one of my hosts and I wrapped up the night in the bar at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel.
Twenty-four hours before that, I sat with a number of other legal professionals at má pêche, enjoying numerous courses that included black bass, with citrus and gooseberry, and an escarole salad with butternut squash, egg, and goat cheese. All that not being enough, I wrapped up the evening with others at Faces and Names, a bar and restaurant on West 54th where the comfortable chairs make it easy to sit back and trade war stories.
I am back in Charlotte now, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, on Providence. My boys are on each side of me at this round table, and my daughter and the other girls from Girl Scout Troop #1335 are busy volunteering. They are serving dinner: penne pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs.
Tonight, our Trinity family welcomes, as we do every Wednesday during the winter, twelve of our Charlotte neighbors who need a warm place to stay. Charlotte neighbors who know, when they close their eyes for the night in our Fellowship Hall, that they are safe. Across the city, as part of the appropriately named Room in the Inn program, many other faith communities are doing the same.
Many miles to the north, LegalTech continues at the New York Hilton. LegalTech bills itself as the “largest and most important legal technology event of the year.” Every year at this time, attorneys, litigation support staff, IT professionals, and technology vendors from across the country converge on New York for three days to discuss the latest software, to pitch services, and to make, and renew, valuable business connections. The days are filled with keynotes and panels. Hot topics this year are network security, data breaches, information governance, and, of course, the ubiquitous e-discovery. During breaks, attendees “walk the floor,” a great misnomer, since there are, in fact, several floors, all lined with companies offering innovative solutions for law firms and their clients. A number of these companies also have private suites upstairs at the Hilton or in nearby hotels so they can offer more detailed demonstrations of their products and services to clients and prospective clients.
And the nights are for entertaining.
I know from my trip to this year’s LegalTech and past experience that there are indeed great people and great things there.
But, still, this juxtaposition.
Twelve mattresses line two of the walls of our Fellowship Hall. Six on the left, for the women, and six on the right, for the men. Two of our guests needed to move them around just a little tonight, though, so they could stay together. A father and his fifth-grade daughter.
After dinner, there are no hotel bars or fancy lounges to which we can retreat. As a number of our guests make themselves comfortable on their mattresses, M and I continue to sit at the table, and we continue to talk. He’s the father who is here with his daughter, and he’s got an idea. It’s an idea that can better not only his and his daughter’s lives, but the lives of others in our community who are experiencing homelessness. It’s actually a very good idea.
I will let him share it with the world when he is ready, but already I find that I am rooting for him. It is, by far, the best presentation I have seen in the last forty-eight hours.
It comes time to track down my two boys, who have wandered off from the table, for it is nearing their bedtime. I find my six-year-old first, and after my wife tells me that she and my daughter will meet us at home, he and I walk together to the basketball goals by the parking lot. My nine-year-old and two sons of tonight’s other volunteers are playing two-on-two. M’s daughter is the fourth. She’s good.
They play for a few more minutes, and my boys and I hop in the car and leave. M’s daughter joins everyone else inside.
In New York, people are making dinner plans right now, and after dinner they will gather late into the night. As I drive away from Trinity, though, I cannot help but think of those in our Fellowship Hall who are preparing for sleep and how those of us who attend LegalTech are all so fortunate that we get to meet each year in such a great place. We are fortunate that with our careers comes the knowledge that we need not worry each morning where we will rest our heads in the evening.
And in this great juxtaposition of it all, I cannot help but think that this good fortune is far more than we could ever need or will ever deserve.