A Greek warrior-god, leading a consortium of warriors from a score of neighbouring homogenous settlements, was to embark on a war against the renowned Trojans of Troy. He had to inevitably seek a surrogate-trainer in his stead to groom his barely five year old son, whom he would have groomed into manhood by himself as the custom stipulates, but for the war he was embarking on.
This surrogate-trainer he found in one of his kinsmen loyalists; the seasoned Mentuor, who was renowned for his art, skill and mastery in grooming lads into manhood. Odysseus at his departure put Telemikus in the care of Mentuor for grooming into manhood till he returned. This grooming included all that a lad needed to learn in terms of knowledge, skill and comportment about life, self-reliance, the art of war, being a man, leadership etc.
For the period of 15 – 20 years that the war wore on, Mentuor, out of his wealth of insight, skill, art, and experience, like a potter would a clay pot, discovered, molded and tutored hidden talents which he nurtured into skills and imparted Telemikus with all that makes for the ‘TOTAL MAN’.
At his return, Odysseus was not to receive back once infant, innocent, frail, naive son of his anymore, but a full grown man, who had become knowledgeable in various aspects of life, self-reliant, intelligent, full of experiential knowledge, skillful, a man of valour in the art of war, one that had started commanding the uncommon respect of the old, young and his peers alike, by virtue of his exploits. That was the Telimikus Odysseus received at his return. Many thanks to the seasoned Mentuor.
That was centuries ago, according to the Greek custom at the time. But in our fast-paced world of today, this age-long landmark path of finessing youngsters into manhood or maturity has been largely jettisoned or considered outdated or archaic and hence not subscribed to by not a few. Little wonder therefore, many youngsters and others who in like manner grew into adulthood have become avoidable, sorry and regrettable underperformers in the line of their supposed glorious destinies and subsequently their future. While avoidable and regrettable, this can’t but be so because when youngsters disregard the ancient wisdom which says: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”. They can’t disregard this pathway and not experience its consequences.
There’s a syndrome bedeviling many youngsters in our generation today that I call the ‘self-made syndrome’. Many youths are under the ‘spell’ of egocentrism. The passionate quest of many youths today to get to the ‘top’ in their career, trade, business, assignment, vision, ministry [ which though not bad, but sadly ], is all for ONE purpose,”…to make for themselves a NAME and FAME”, which in itself is not entirely bad, but concerning and self-serving if it is not service-to-humanity-focused, and could be premature and or half-baked when [ in addition to basic relevant education ] it doesn’t subscribe to grooming in the trained, tried and trusted hands of one with hands-on knowledge of the career, trade or business they are in, someone with constant, consistent and continuous results, in their field that they can benefit from – in terms of wealth of insight, wisdom, experience and clout which would cut short their learning curve. Rather, many today are seeking to be made alone, all by themselves and for themselves only. But ironically, THERE IS NO SELF-MADE MAN!
The self-made syndrome is a self-destruct syndrome, because nobody goes far doing it ALONE! Lone rangers die in lone ranges. There is no assignment, vision, career, profession, ministry, business, etc. that one has received alone that one can achieve ALONE. Why? There is no assignment that God gives to a man alone that he can achieve ALONE! One is limited doing it alone! Someone sees what one doesn’t see. Someone knows what one doesn’t know. It is said that every great man or woman is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, which makes 100% manifestation of Greatness. Great! We can therefore deduce that greatness is the summation of inspiration and perspiration. It’s important to note that it is inspiration that precedes perspiration. Inspiration is the foundation for every perspiration. Until one is inspired, one cannot perspire. If true, it therefore means that you need inspiration from someone else’s thoughts, actions, results in your kind of business, life, destiny, profession, career, assignment etc. to access perspiration, for your manifestation.
No matter your intelligence, brilliance, talents, wits, dedication, discipline, etc. in your chosen career, field, profession, or received calling, assignment [s], vision, ministry, you need to be inspired by someone who has gone ahead of you in your field and succeeded and is still succeeding outstandingly, because success is not a destination but a journey. This is why I firmly suggest to you that; “YOU NEED A MENTOR”.
@OladeleOlunike
Email: oladeleolunikeassociates@gmail.com
