I’ve long believed in the importance of mentoring, particularly for young men. We all need the guidance and support of our elders, but boys particularly need to feel the support of older men. Poet and men’s leader, Robert Bly, said that young men “need to hear the song that male cells sing.” I think that’s a wonderful phrase and it’s important that we find more mentors for boys.
In this era of sexual equality we sometimes forget that we aren’t just human beings. We are also male human beings or female human beings. Bly reminds us that we are male or female right down to our very cells. And those cells sing a different song depending on whether we carry an XY in our genetic makeup or an XX.
Many of us have been raised by women because our fathers have been absent, either physically or emotionally. Many of our teachers in the early years were women. We hunger to know that unique experience of being surrounded by a symphony of powerful, loving men.
I drove down to Bakersfield on Tuesday and picked up my grandson, Deon, and took him to Los Angeles to participate in a rites of passage adventure for young men. Deon is 15 years old and we’ll be joining other young men and their mentors—fathers, grandfathers, uncles, teachers—to be together for four days. This is The 14th Annual Call to Adventure Rites of Passage Retreat (CTA) offered by the Los Angeles Men’s Center.
I’m hoping this will give us an opportunity to deepen our connection with each other and also other men. This is a critical time in a young man’s life and I’m hoping this will help set him on the right path towards becoming the man he’ll feel proud to become. Wish us well.
How has a mentor impacted your life? And/or how has being a mentor impacted your life?
