Must We Emulate Our Mentors?
Maturity is a matter of the mind of an individual irrespective of class, race, age or sex etc.
Can maturity be acquired, tutored, or learnt is a dozen question that come to mind each time such issues that has to do with behavoural or humanity comes to play.
If maturity could be acquired then it is obvious that one may acquired it through certain levels of education attained. If could be tutored; one can still have it through any form of tutorship or transfer it in a seminar or other forms of transmission. It could also be learnt by other means than education, perhaps by advise, punishment or even serving jail term.
It cannot also be purchased with money otherwise wealthy citizens in the society would have cheated the ordinarily people in the community.
To this end, we can according to the Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary define “maturity’ as the “quality of thinking and behaving in a sensible, adult manner.”
Again, Mentor’ is defined as “an experienced person who advises and helps somebody with less experience over a period of time.”
The word “Master is a vast field and had vast meaning as connected to each area of responsibility. But in this context, we shall confine ourselves with “control, servant and skilled definitions.
In one part it is defined as “a person who is able to control something. In another, a man who has people working for him, often servants in his home, and a person who is skilled at something.
In more enlightened manner a mentor could not be without maturity going by the definitions so as to breed up others.
Master and mentors of high intellectuals are not only leaders, but people to be reckoned with in the society. These are people who are builders and could be emulated.
Today, most masters and mentors have left their responsibilities, roles and activities in the affirmative but yielding to activities of destruction and planting evil even against their subjects.
Mentorship has to do with maturity since the blind cannot lead the blind, they will all fall into a pit. This episode started with the course of maturity since it’s the driving force especially of the main subject, mentorship.
Mentorship is divine and scriptural hence must be properly looked into as we yearn for development in our society.
Maturity drives a mentor to the way of life, status and living standard of a people. It is maturity that assessed and produced result of a particular society. With it, we can judge a developing or developed society.
Having known that there may be good and evil mentors, what could be role of a servant who definitely becomes a mentor to other in the near future? It is time to end the brouhaha and hullabaloo in the society if we must think of development and or getting to another level in life.
This episode is aimed at drawing the attention of all the players in our polity to the simple fact that emulation of good virtues is the only means, reasons and solution to our political crisis, if at all we have mentors or masters.
I am not forced to believe that all the political big wigs in Rivers State and Nigeria at one time or the other were subjects to some persons either alive or dead. Of course I don’t need to mention names, though politics is a game diverse status as one could pledge loyalty to several masters at separate moments.
Can all the trouble makers in Rivers State in particular, retire to their private homes and recall whom they have served at any moment, think of the good virtues of such a person and relates it to his/her life style today?
Assessing one’s mentor or master with a definite positive result would earn us the desired peace, the panacea for development, I suggest.
It therefore incumbent for the warring lords of our States and Nigeria at large to have a rethink of their standing in issues affecting our polity.
If someone’s mentor is characterized as an evil mentor, does it behoves of the servant to become evil? If so, then such an individual is missing the entire process of leadership.
It therefore become of our leaders to do their mentors, dead or alive proud by exhibiting the good virtues they taught them.
Suffice it to say that a mentor of a particular present day leader was found worthy of the people but his servant now a leader is probably out of the line, then it presupposes that such a leader was a bad follower or servant in his day of serving his master.
The question, if we must emulate our mentors is in both the affirmative and negative because it is expected that only good virtues should be emulated while those that are evil should be jettisoned not even remembered.
Remember, it is written that “A good name is better than a precious ointment”.
Those precious aspects of our mentors should be given a face lifts aimed at developing our society other than daily fighting.
It is time for Rivers people to desist from fighting a battle they cannot end for obvious reasons, but to let the sleeping dog lie for the interest of peace of the society.
Let us mention, remember and assess our mentors for good intentions. ###
With James Mgboineme
Jamesprojectgodwin@yahoo.com.
