The Breakfast Club, Revisited

I get together every couple of weeks with a group of guys for breakfast. Now, I participate in a variety of groups, but this one is unique. There are eight of us. I think I am the youngest member; some of us are retired, and others are facing retirement. We get together for breakfast, and we talk about a book. Right now, we are finishing Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer.

I spend quite bit of our times together listening, which I think makes some of them a little nervous. It can be a challenge for these men–most of whom have overseen large organizations and taken on heavy professional responsibilities–to talk about their lives in real depth and have someone actually be listening.

We talk about some very important topics: the people we love, our gifts and callings, the meaning and the legacies of our lives, what frustrates us, what inspires us, what we fear.

I listen primarily because I do not want to miss anything. Each time we get together, I come away with more need to consider and reflect. In many ways, I am grateful and honored to be included. We have some things in common, but we also have a wide variety of experience and perspective.

It is reassuring, and humbling, to regularly have breakfast with people who I have seen taking opposite sides of issues in the past. We are learning about each other, and appreciating and respecting each other in new ways. It is fascinating.

We will get together again soon. One of us will host and will give a short reflection and tell a joke. We will share breakfast, begin talking about the section of the book we read, and venture widely and deeply from there.

Have you ever had a group like this that you were committed to?

[ Image by Larry Page ]