With a mid-term and a group presentation and the beginning of my group's project and a book review and an all-weekend leadership retreat for the national IMPACT conference all happening within the next 5 days, it's a little difficult to remember how long ago I met Dr. Hanmin Liu of the Wildflowers Institute. He spent the better part of last week in the role of the visiting scholar at the Clinton School. I first met him on Tuesday or Wednesday at a dinner that I considered skipping out on because of the abovementioned workload. I'm glad I didn't.
Unlike the other speakers and scholars who have visited the school, whom I mostly listened to as they spoke, I had the good fortune of listening to and speaking with Dr. Liu multiple times: first at the dinner, then in conversation with our class, then again at his presentation for the Little Rock community. Each time we spoke he caused a shift in how I view communities. His ideas were new enough that I had to give them careful thought to begin to grasp them, but true enough that I intuitively felt like I knew what he was talking about.
Even if my path doesn't cross his again, I'll consider him a mentor. Which makes me think differently both about being mentored and mentoring. It can be done in a long relationship that develops over time, like the type promoted by Big Brothers/Big Sisters or in a few thought-filled conversations.