The Power of Mentoring

When Tom Brown was 7 years old, he met an Apache Indian named Stalking Wolf in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. This Apache, whom Brown learned to call Grandfather, was looking for someone to pass along the knowledge that he had. He was a member of a clan of trackers, Indians who can silently and efficiently track anything in the wilderness, right down to whether a person or animal has walked by on a full or an empty stomach.

Tom Brown now runs the largest survival school in the United States. He has taught thousands of people the lessons Grandfather taught him. So even though Grandfather died many years ago, all those thousands of students have had the benefit of this one person who came unexpectedly into a young boy's life.

In his book, The Way of the Scout Tom Brown wrote: "Grandfather told us that we should always hold one question in our minds at all times. And that is, 'What is this telling me?'...All around us were secrets that had to be unraveled, mysteries that had to be understood, and countless questions that had to be answered. Thus we were always searching, seeking and asking questions of the environment, whether of nature or of man."

This is the best lesson a mentor can ever teach—to constantly question what we see around us. When we read a book or a news story, we should ask, "What is this telling me?" When we meet a 'wise advisor' who shares his or her life's experience, we should ask, "What is this telling me?" The answers will bring us to places we never knew we could reach.

The teacher is one who makes two ideas grow where only one grew before.

—Elbert Hubbard,
writer