2001-05-03 - 16:40 M DST

THE WONDERING JEW

Off He Goes

How often I say words without understanding the whole meaning. A word I have been using in my communications on the web, which comes to my fingertips readily and glibly. Mentor. Today while sitting in a K Mart snack bar waiting on Heather to do some necessary shopping, I began to think about that word. Mentor. One I used again today in a message board. So having a small notebook in front of me I asked myself a few questions.

First - look it up in the Dictionary when I get home.

What is a mentor, really ?

Can I choose a mentor ?

What are the qualifications of a mentor ?

Can I be mentored while under duress ?

Why should a person want to have a mentor ?

Why on earth should anyone want to be a mentor ?

Can I draft a mentor ?

Is it necessary for a mentor to be older than the Mentee ?

Is a frustrated Mentor dementored ?

Can I have several mentors - each with a different special field ?

Do I have the right to call a person I respect and whose thoughts I value my Mentor ?

Does a mentor have to lead also by example -- do as I do in essence ?

The dictionary is a little help.

1. Mentor was a loyal advisor to Odysseus and entrusted with the care and education of Odysseus' son.

2. A wise and trusted counselor.

3. A teacher or coach.

It helped me a little bit, but still many of my niggling questions weren't answered for me. For the first question -- the answer is a piece of cake.

I think a mentor can be chosen, if they choose to accept the role.

I think the commonsense qualifications entail knowledge and expertise in the particular fields that are needed by the one mentored.

Why on earth should anyone want to be a mentor ? A person of the best character, morals and philosophy with a love of mankind and the desire to help a less experienced person move forward, maybe ?

Why should I want to have a mentor ? As a sentient person I feel the need for guidance and advice from some one more advanced than I, some one who I trust and respect, and someone who will do what is necessary.

Can a person be a mentor to an unwilling mentee ? An exercise in futility it looks to be in my eyes.

Can a mentor be drafted, like an athlete ? It seems to me that Mentoring won't work that way. It looks to me more like a one who wants a Mentor must be more or less a supplicant to a person for help in a field, and the person appealed to has the prerogative of accepting or declining.

Is it necessary for a mentor to be older than the one being mentored ? I think not necessarily so but it can be most of the time due to the nature of the beast.

To me mentoring is a highly spiritual thing with the welfare of society as a whole the goal. Little pebbles thrown in a pond often enough will fill the pond - an inept analogy, but it works for right now.

I think a a person can be a mentor without having communication with the one mentored -- emulation is the act of being led by example (mentored by inspiration).

I seem to always have more questions than I can find answers for .... but this time with some thought .... maybe I have a good idea of things.

There are old hands on the net who by example lead the way. There are a few who through their encouragement led me to make a leap of faith and try for something I wasn't sure I was capable of doing. Those I choose to call my Mentors. They don't seem to be offended or pull the river in Egypt bit about it, so I guess they have accepted the job.

I feel honored that they have not stepped aside and dodged their titles.

When I get to thinking . . . those around me often say, "Off He Goes" . . . . . . .

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