21ST CENTURY MOST WANTED: A mentor!
Do you think today’s youth trust today’s adult? Do you think having more adult mentors can help close this yawning gap in youth and adult relationship for a better tomorrow? Yahoo generation, GSM generation, to mention but a few are appalling terms that is being use to describe our generation, the youths of today. We are faced with increasing challenges at all levels with influence of the society.
Trapped in the flashes of moving with the flow with limited power to break free, we settle and squat in the position of “pity me” and watch ourselves waste our today wrapped in yesterday’s juvenile delinquent, unsure of what tomorrow holds. On the verge of falling off, we are tired of being tagged with fancy and flattering slogans like wares on market stall. We want to live and not just exist, but to know the road ahead; we must ask those who have gone ahead or those coming back. This is the path only few youths are exploring and taking advantage of- Mentoring!
The word "mentor" comes from the Greek word for "steadfast" and "enduring. Mentoring is the one-to-one or group relationship that one or more adults develop with one or more young people to help them develop and succeed in life. A mentor is an experienced person who advises and helps somebody with less experience over a period of time, considered as an excellent example of what one aspire to be in future. In choosing a mentor, there are certain qualities you must lookout for by asking these questions: is the person a knowledgeable epitome of how you see yourself in future? Is the person real or make believe? Does the person have a good moral standard? Is the person humane and sensitive towards others? Your chosen mentor can be an achiever in your immediate family or circle of friends or s/he could be someone you admire from a distance whom you would have to then build a relationship with.
Mentoring comes with a lot of benefits which includes: Leading young people to resources they might not find on their own, building a more youth and adult friendly society and enhancing relationship, raising goals and expectations of youths, building a generation of confident youths that trust adults, building a generation of adults that understand youths, Providing support for new behaviors, attitudes and ambitions of young people and improving skills by giving them access to valuable experience and knowledge of adults, providing advice to help youths with aspirations evaluate options and make better decisions and even help motivate youths that have no sense of belonging or aspiration.
Assisting our youths require appropriate mentoring. If a youth sees an individual s/he admires, s/he should feel comfortable in developing a mentor-mentees relationship with the person (quoting Folakemi T. Odedina). So go for it! Seek out a mentor, build relationship, build trust, and build future! We are youths, we are the posterity of our Nation, adults should make themselves better role models and impart in us your valuable experience and knowledge to equip us for the future. They should teach us the different stages in life to learn how to turn over, to sit up, to crawl and then to walk and run to become relevant and useful for the good of our society.