Professor Clutterbuck very kindly took a moment out of his travels to email me the text version while he was in Ghana. (Thank you very much.) With his permission, I am pleased to post them for you now.
- What thoughts, truths or principles come to your mind as you read these stories?
- Are there some additional mentorship related stories that you could recommend to our readers?
Add your comments to this post, and we'll look forward to sharing them with others soon.
Here are two stories provided by Professor Clutterbuck:
Stories of mentoring - I have been trying for some time to collect stories from different cultures, which parallel the ancient myth of Mentor. It seems that the concept of an older, wiser person, developing the wisdom in a younger person, is very common. Two of my favourite stories – one positive and one showing the dark side of mentoring – are below:
Positive: From West Africa. A young boy’s father is dying. He tells his son: "Under the big rock outside the hut is everything you will need to become a great warrior.” Encouraged by his mother, every day the child attempts to move the rock. Although he pushes with all his strength, it does not budge. Eventually, at the age of 16, he feels a small amount of give. Then at 18, he rolls the rock away and finds underneath it a sword and shield. “How will this make me a great warrior?” he asks, disappointed. “Just look at your muscles,” says his mother...
Negative: India (the story of Eklavya from the epic Mahabarat). The poor young boy watches the guru train the children of rich men in archery. He copies what he sees and, through practice, eventually becomes so good that he is able to win an archery competition, beating all the guru’s students. Buoyed up with his success, he approaches the guru to ask if he can become one of his protégés. By custom, the guru may demand a gift from new acolytes. This guru, offended at the young boy’s success, tells him the gift he requires is “Your thumbs”
1 comment:
This comment from my friend, Ian Hope adds another international perspective to the developmental role that Mentorship can play. Thank you Ian ...
Having a mentor helped me immeasurably. It expanded my thinking and extended my self-confidence and my reach in terms of what I was able to accomplish. Indeed I am able to look back at discussions I had with my mentor, and the insights he shared with me, and find ‘pearls of wisdom’ that serve me well to this day.
Mahatma Gandhi, the great political and spiritual leader of India in the first part of the 20th century once said: “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I shall have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
I think that, for me, mentoring has a lot to do with this expansion of consciousness and the building of a mentoree’s self-awareness and self confidence.
Post a Comment