Mentoring Matters
From time immemorial, mentoring has always played a crucial role in the transformation of lives and societies. For instance, they say great leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were mentored by Benjamin E. Mays; Maya Angelou mentored Oprah; Walter Sisulu was the mentor of Nelson Mandela. Dusé Mohamed Ali mentored Marcus Garvey. Indeed, it can be said that all great leaders were influenced by great mentors at some time in their lives. Thus, mentors’ matter.
?????Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, was recognized as a virtue ethicist. He believed virtue had to be emulated, and thus mentors or role models play an indispensable role in providing the appropriate examples for others to follow. Aristotle believed that without this, individuals would be incapable of reproducing virtuous behaviour.
A young man once asked me, “Osbourne, imagine you were again my age, 23 years old. What advice would you give to your younger self?”?I thought about the question for awhile. However, I asked him for a week to reflect on the matter. I finally responded by telling him I would identify a great mentor, sit at his feet, listen to his wise precepts and advice, and emulate his every action.
???A month later, he remarked, “Osbourne, you have changed my life. I took your advice. I searched and found a great mentor online. After three sessions with him, my outlook has been revolutionized. Today, I have a growing business and envisaging a brighter future because of my relationship with my mentor, who has helped me clarify my vision and view the world through a clearer set of lenses.”
On hearing the words of my young friend, I could not help reflecting on the words of the well-known Yose ben Yoezer, which states:
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???"Let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages, and sit in the very dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.”
Powdering Yourself in Dust
The idea is from the Mishnah,?Avot?1:4. (The Mishnah is a collection of rabbinic thought from 200 BC to 200 AD that still forms the core of Jewish belief today.) The quotation is from Yose ben Yoezer (yo-EHZ-er) member of the rabbinic movement, about two centuries before Jesus:
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