If a mentor falls in the woods............

The answer, if you ask my 16-year old, is a resounding “no” you don’t hear a sound. If someone calls themselves a teacher, then we could assume there are or have been students. However, one can’t presume more than the student is obedient, showing up where and when they have been told to appear. Again, I point you to my 16-year old. He is not open to the wise guidance of a mentor, in fact, he's more prone to the foolish examples of his peers. In between those two, he’s pretty sure he knows everything else. Fortunately, for many of us this is an adolescent stage we traverse.

On the other hand, we all know the people who don’t. I have a friend who is very wise in many areas of her life. She asked me advice about a significant matter that she just couldn’t seem to sort out and resolve. I cringed, because like others she knew, I saw a major flaw in her thought process and I knew my suggestion was going to challenge her. I gave it anyways. Her response in so many signals: “Who asked you anyway?” I still chuckle at the irony, but the outcome of the path she took was not funny.

Mentees have to be humble enough to accept that they don’t know everything, confident enough to expose this truth and resourceful enough to close the gap by leaning on the wisdom of others. Too tall an order? Perhaps. In this world of blaming everyone else for disappointments, and not accepting accountability for our personal sovereignty, my 16-year old has found his comfort zone.