#431: SPOTLIGHT: Richard Sugarman

#431: Richard Sugarman

June 24, 2025

A Backbeat of Community 

Question for Richard: 

Does one person first come to mind:    In your very very first “adult” job -- when you were perhaps first out of college or over the age of 21 let’s say – is there someone that pops to mind who brings a smile to your face not because of anything in your specific relationship but just because of who they were or how they moved through the world?

Richard's Response: 

While I was in graduate school, my first internship was at a methadone maintenance clinic in Baltimore. The clinic was in a very troubled part of the city. Everyday dozens of people came to the clinic for their doses of methadone. All these people were heroin addicts. They were of all different ages and backgrounds. Some were long term addicts while others had become recently addicted. The clinic was always chaotic and often full of drama. It was not unusual for the police to show up harassing and arresting many of the patients at the clinic. Overdoses and suicides were common. Most of the patients were in a terrible state, had ruined their lives, destroyed their families, and were just a mess. They were seen as the worst elements of society. It was so easy to just cast them off or think of them as the dregs of the earth. 

The head of the clinic was a Jesuit priest named Father Peter. He was in his mid-30s, dashingly handsome, and very smart. He could have done anything with his life, but he chose to be there in that clinic in the middle of Baltimore serving those people no one else wanted to serve or have anything to do with. He treated every person who came to that clinic with the deepest respect and compassion. He made it clear to me and the handful of folks working at the clinic, that every patient we served was a person, a person who deserved to be treated with respect, dignity, and  love. I've never forgotten Father Peter’s lesson and practice of seeing dignity in everyone. I have tried to follow his example grounded in recognizing the dignity of others throughout my life.