Meeting Mary

 "You have ten minutes," I was told. I was covering a credit union conference in Dublin for a trade journal.

I'd been granted a private interview with the keynote speaker, Mary Robinson, former Irish President, former High Commissioner for the UN High Commission for Human Rights (HCR), Chair of Bishop Tutu's Elders and member of many other organizations working for the betterment of humanity.

I'd seen her speak many times in Geneva where we both lived for a time. I worked across the street from the HCR, but I'd never run into her pushing a grocery cart at the Co-op in between our two office buildings when I shopped for food.

I held her in awe. Unlike most politicians her words never changed with the wind. Her actions always aligned with her words.

We met in a small room at the conference venue. The topic, credit unions which helped bring financial services to millions otherwise shut out of the financial marketplace, was one she was well versed on. She'd been a credit union member.

Ten minutes had long passed and we were still talking.

The topic changed to her role at HCR as she mentioned visiting Rwanda after the massacre and seeing the corpses of victims. "How do you stand it?" I asked.

She put her hand on my arm. "My Dear, my glass is always a quarter full."

Two days later she was in the elevator with her husband, when I got on. Unlike other keynote speakers at credit union conferences that I'd covered, she had not evaporated the moment their speech ended. She had attended several sessions to increase her behind the scenes knowledge of credit unions.

She introduced me by full name to her husband as the journalist that she'd told him about and mentioned what we had discussed.  

I've interviewed other world leaders and important people, but none made the impression on me that this woman did. She gave me hope that leaders could be good. And no matter what has happened to me personally, I find my glass is always at least a quarter full if not more.