Mentaur

Mentoring refers to the relationship by which one person is helped up by a more competent person. That’s my definition! Novel! Odysseus left his son Telemachus in the care of Mentor in Greek Mythology, in simple terms, to make a man of the lad!
Many times we struggle to make of ourselves what some mentor could easily help us achieve. In the animal kingdom, birds teach their young to fly; carnivores teach their young to hunt; as simple as this feels, boys who are raised in the absence of their fathers initially have difficulty using the urinary up standing! Culturally, boys are raised as men by their fathers; girls are taught to be women by their mothers! In the path of Christ, He picked some men to follow him, and He gave them increasingly challenging tasks until He left them to carry on without Him. The benefits of mentoring seem so obvious!
Years ago when lawyers learnt by apprenticeship, a young lawyer debuted in a small town that had only one lawyer. He advertised, marketed, socialised, and networked but got no client! He pimped up his office and upgraded his suits. He greeted everyone he met on the street and introduced himself to a few, still no client. One day, he had an idea to swallow his pride and go talk to the senior lawyer in town to ask for advice.
The old man smiled when he saw him. He listened patiently as the young man spoke. When he was through, Senior fixed an appointment for the next day at 4pm. However, it was not in his office. It was at the West end of the main road in the little town, the King’s Highway! Funny.
Young Law met him there. He was careful to get there 5 minutes before time. At 4pm, the old man arrived. He put his arm on the young man’s shoulder and they walked the King’s highway from the West end to the East end, and back, talking about nothing in particular.
Old man said that was all the meeting, and that he shouldn’t have any problem from then on. It felt weird and funnier! Old man did not give him any contacts; he did not teach him any secrets of the trade. However, within a week, he started getting calls! He couldn’t understand the logic till an old man client explained to him: “The reason I decided to try you is because I saw you walking with the senior lawyer with his arm on your shoulder! If you were not good, he wouldn’t associate with you!”
How often do we struggle at what a neighbour or friend, older or younger, could help us tackle!