This past fall, when TEDx, an independently organized TED event, returned to the Loyola Marymount University campus to create conversations, many thought leaders from both on and off the bluff made impacts by sharing motivational stories and personal messages. One of those speakers was Patrick Furlong ‘06, associate director of the Center for Service and Action who spoke on, “Curiosity and Compassion Can Change the World.”
One of his favorite moments from the TEDx experience was getting to form relationships with other speakers by practicing with each other and the students who spent many hours making this event possible. “It felt great to be able to root for my fellow speakers as they took the stage,” Furlong said. “As speakers, we had the opportunity to practice together several times. We got to know each other’s stories. I was also so impressed and in total debt to our students who helped organize this event. The students were intentional with every moment they created for attendees and speakers. And they showed us all what it means to practice cura personalis, care for the entire person.”
Furlong’s talk focused how our curiosity and compassion can lead to greater connections with each other by telling stories from a non-profit in East Los Angeles, living and working in low-income communities in Latin America, a personal story about his son and from his travels with his wife around Southeast Asia.
“That same curiosity, that same compassion, that connection would be turned around and used on me in ways I could not imagine.”
One of the hardest moments, he shares is a very personal story of how his son has an allergic reaction at just nine months old and how in the moments as emergency responders were caring for his son, they also were caring for him.
Furlong also shares about his experiences traveling in Bali where everyone greeted him and his wife with the phrase: namaste. “One day I asked this man what exactly does this word namaste mean?” said Furlong. “He explained it to me the best he can as, the spirit in me, dancing with the spirit in you. And I love that translation. I later looked it up and saw it’s that idea the divine or the good in me recognizing the divine or the goodness in you. But that notion of the divine and the good in us coming out and dancing with another person. Maybe it’s what the world needs right now…so my challenge to you is how will that goodness in you dance with every person you encounter.”