Wanted: A Mentor

Life c

an be a challenge when you live it in an echo chamber. I’ve often expressed some distorted ideology on the benefits of being a lone wolf. However, as the years creep by, I am beginning to realize that many things in life are better navigated when you have a wingman. More importantly, someone with wisdom and skills who can help direct you and support you as you navigate life’s trials and tribulations and pursue the development of new skills.

There was a time when the role of a mentor was assumed by your father, or other elder leader in the family or neighborhood. Days spent in an elder’s workshop or garage, learning the intricacies of woodworking or car maintenance. Acquiring the knowledge and love of music through your mother, or members of your church. Developing the skills of a hunter or fishermen in the early morning dew of your father’s favorite escape. The list goes on with the one common denominator, an adult passing along the wisdom and knowledge acquired from an earlier generation of mentors.

Is it any surprise that so many of these markers of a youth well lived have effectively died? Broken homes or fathers who are too busy in the grind of life to allot the necessary time to bond and nurture their sons. Now these roles have been outsourced to shop class or trade schools with dismal results. Men my age find themselves emasculated by lacking the skills to feed their offspring’s appetite for the tactile needs of an impoverished culture. You hide in embarrassment by your inability to serve as an educator of skills that are foundational to living an independent life.

As an elder leader, I am in search for a mentor. In a time that I should be a mentor, I am instead in need of one. Although unfortunate, it is real. How difficult it is to find a skilled leader who is willing to answer such a call, even from an older man. Something in my heart says that if life and skill mentorship elevated again to a position of importance and prestige, our society and culture would reap the benefits. Institutions cannot fill this void. Institutions are cold replacements to the heart and soul upon which mentorship is built. I need to find a mentor.