According to Joseph Campbell, every hero goes through a certain journey. One of the important steps in this journey is "meeting the mentor". Everyone is the hero of his own life story. And everyone meets the mentor in one stage or another in their life. This mentor helps them discover who they truly are, and what they were made to do.
I met my mentor one Saturday morning, about 4 years ago, in a cold class room in the university. He wasn't a scientist; he was neither a public figure nor anything out of ordinary. He was only two years older than me, and he was -still is- my source of inspiration. The first time I saw him I thought to myself "another great guy that I would never have the chance to talk to". How little did I know then how he would be closer to me than anyone! He wasn't a friend, he wasn't a crush (except if you can fall in love with someone's mind), but when we sit together to talk we never notice how quickly time passes. He was the first to believe in me, in a time when I didn't even believe in myself. For some reason he saw me as capable of changing the world, all I needed to do was "to get out of my comfort zone" as he wrote to me. I still remember that afternoon in March 2009 when I wanted to take a picture with the moderators of the workshop I was participating in, and he looked at me and said "we won't take a picture with you except if you applied as a moderator next year". "Me!! A moderator! What the hell is he talking about?! I'm not like him, I'm not good enough!" that's what was in mind then.
I still remember our long talks about life and routine, and how to be what we want to be in a world that's constantly pushing us to be something else. I still remember how he helped me understand that a life not lived for others isn't worth living, and that in the day of judgment when God asks me what I did in my life, my answer shouldn't be "I developed me community and left my family mad at me." You took me out of my routine and took me into a journey of discovering myself, and though I met many disappointments along the way, the reward was worth it.
So thank you, dear mentor, for helping me set my priorities. Thank you for helping me change the way I perceived life. And thank you for helping me become a better me. Hope I can be what you've been to me to someone else.
I met my mentor one Saturday morning, about 4 years ago, in a cold class room in the university. He wasn't a scientist; he was neither a public figure nor anything out of ordinary. He was only two years older than me, and he was -still is- my source of inspiration. The first time I saw him I thought to myself "another great guy that I would never have the chance to talk to". How little did I know then how he would be closer to me than anyone! He wasn't a friend, he wasn't a crush (except if you can fall in love with someone's mind), but when we sit together to talk we never notice how quickly time passes. He was the first to believe in me, in a time when I didn't even believe in myself. For some reason he saw me as capable of changing the world, all I needed to do was "to get out of my comfort zone" as he wrote to me. I still remember that afternoon in March 2009 when I wanted to take a picture with the moderators of the workshop I was participating in, and he looked at me and said "we won't take a picture with you except if you applied as a moderator next year". "Me!! A moderator! What the hell is he talking about?! I'm not like him, I'm not good enough!" that's what was in mind then.
I still remember our long talks about life and routine, and how to be what we want to be in a world that's constantly pushing us to be something else. I still remember how he helped me understand that a life not lived for others isn't worth living, and that in the day of judgment when God asks me what I did in my life, my answer shouldn't be "I developed me community and left my family mad at me." You took me out of my routine and took me into a journey of discovering myself, and though I met many disappointments along the way, the reward was worth it.
So thank you, dear mentor, for helping me set my priorities. Thank you for helping me change the way I perceived life. And thank you for helping me become a better me. Hope I can be what you've been to me to someone else.
