"Mentor"

“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.” Aristotle.

Good afternoon!

You are traveling to new place completely alien to you, and the first thing you do is getting a map. The map became some sort of your teacher or mentor helping you in exploring the new place. And I'm very fortunate to have been mentored by many good teachers when I was growing up as a high school student. The one moment which will always remain special to me is when I learned how to read and write in Manipuri, originally the Bengali scripts. Frankly, I never had that interest to learn Manipuri when I started my fourth standard knowing it will become an optional subject in ninth standard. As if Manipuri language was not supposed to be included in the curriculum.

Then, the inevitable thing happened when I least expected the most. Madam Manisana, who is known for her reputation as strict disciplinarian in and outside the school was appointed to be my class teacher in fourth standard. If I have to write one sentence about her personality as a teacher, she is like one of those typical British-bred teachers. Knowing that she is my class teacher, and in addition, she is also going to be teaching us the Manipuri language subject which is coincidentally her expertise. Then and there, fear reign all over me. I'm not very sure but I thought if she already kind of aware I'd be least interested in her Manipuri language class.

However, the way it turns out for me, I will always remain grateful to her because she crossed all kinds of boundary to make sure I learned how to read and write in Manipuri. And a year later, I was able to read Newspaper in Manipuri edition fluently. All credits to my Madam Manisana, my mentor, and my guidance. Although learning how to read and write in Manipuri is no big achievement but the essence of learning will last forever and no one can snatch it away from me. The truth is that she helped me to embrace my fear of her so I can focus and push myself.

This day, I am reading the book "The Undisputed Truth" which is the official autobiography of Mike Tyson. From the book, I came to know about Mike Tyson troublesome childhood and jostling around with the bigger guys when he was only seven years old. Before he even turns 12, he was already in and out of Juvenile center for stealing and possession of stolen property. Then he met this guy, Bobby Stewart, who was one of the counselors in center. For the book, I believed he either embraces boxing to seek more attention or it is just that boxing happen to unearth his talent. But the question is; how did he manage to become the world's youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 18? Obviously, there are many answers like, the trainer, his sparring partner, the punching back, the regular workout, the diet, etc. However, it was his mentor, Cus D'Amato, who helped him in becoming the youngest heavyweight champion.

The way his mentor Cus D'Amato instilled the philosophy of a champion inside Mike Tyson is simply amazing and riveting. I took two screenshots from the book, and I thought it will be worth sharing here on my blog. See the screenshots below:

Nowadays, we hardly find genuine mentorship in every aspect of our daily life. Yet we still have the teachers in schools and universities whom we often forget their contribution to society. In fact, they are like the “MAP” of our future. And I hope the above screenshots is inspiring as I consider it to be.

Food for thought: “I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.” Alexander the Great.

Thank you.