When I was a kid I wanted to be a marine and a priest. Heck I didnt know chaplains were a thing. A marine because thats what my dad was and a priest because one of the people that I looked up to was father Zoghby. I later realized that these titles or roles didnt make them who they were. They were just awesome. It donned on me that I didnt have to adopt the mantles that they had to gain those qualities. Even at that young age I respected mentors. They were the embodiment of all the core values that I desired. No one believed in me like my father did. We were given a kingdom of opportunity to learn and become men. We grew up in the woods with BB guns, survival knives, and big chew. It was awesome. Training or the passing on of knowledge amongst men is not really done in some formal setting. His every action and every word was a lesson. I have a son. He is a handful. I am blessed to be the parent of a child so full of energy for life. I love it but man, he can be exhausting. My friend Jason Jason Stowe has three of the little savages to bring up. I once asked how do you do it? His reply, “You cant teach them everything. You can only teach them how to be and how to make good decisions.” One thing that my dad did to keep us on the same page was that he always explained his vision of the future to us. We werent just in it. We were part of it. Every thing he did was based on these few core values: 1. Be lawful. There are enough bad guys out there. 2. Respect nature. Provide for it and it will provide for you. 3. Faith, Family, and country. Every man will find a calling greater than himself in these. 4. Respect your elders. They deserve it. Zoghby on the other hand was a charismatic powerhouse of a speaker. Like some bearded prophet out the old testament. He could preach. He would walk up and down the isles and talk with us all. (Not me because I was behind him on the alter choking on incense) but we had it best as before the service he would explain to us how his vision was going to go. Of course every time he would go way off track and have us all laughing and praising and all that stuff that he was a master of. He loved art and artists. He believed that it was Gods will that we all use the talents that were given to us to make the world a better place to be in. Just an all around amazing guy. These were my first mentors. My first guides. I thought that I wanted to have same titles that they had. But the reality was that I wanted to emulate their qualities. They made me and those around them better people. The world is in need of mentors and visionaries. Not more corporate trainers and managers. But real men and women that care about tomorrow. The average person is just here to breathe air, take what they can, and just get by until they die. Its the truth. No dreams. No vision. Or if they have them they have no clue or desire to make it reality. A mentor has the ability to shed light on their vision of a better tomorrow. To see the end product. To see us for who we will become. Not everyone does that. We are all born with the ability to inspure and leaf. But then we choose to follow because the world stamps the desire to lead out of us. To hell with that. If we are tired of standing around in the dark then pick up the torch and get us out of here. “Leaders should influence others in such a way that it builds people up, encourages and edifies them so they can duplicate this attitude in others.” ― Bob Goshen “The best help we can offer the youth of today is to prepare them for tomorrow.” ― Mark W. Boyer
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 12:49:15 +0000
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