“What a chop!” “What a flippin punk!” “Oi!” 

These are statements i utter in my brain space, and sometimes out loud, when young people who i know are passionate and committed to the cause of racism interruption and poverty transformation and reconciliation and restitution jump on to social media and act like… well, like teenagers really, little kids on a bad day. And it happens a lot.

To be fair, i imagine i inspire my own fair share of “What a chop!”, “What a flippin punk!” and “Oi”‘s on a fairly regular basis, some of which are well deserved [others which are not] and so, as it often is, this is a mirror post. i first need to deal with the plank in my own eye, before i can take too serious notice of the speck in others.

But all of this to say, this led me to the following status post on Friday i think it was:

What the world desperately needs is mentoring.

People who are maybe a little older and have journeyed a little further and perhaps have some cuts and scars and limps to show for it. Who will make the time to walk alongside those who are younger and passionate and who maybe have more energy and optimism and zeal for change.

There is learning to be had on both sides for sure, but there is an obvious need for some measure of injection of the kind of wisdom and guidance and respect and direction that when lacking more often leads to a kind of super passionate social activist/slacktivist projectile vomitting and hurtful misdirection.

The dog is chasing its tail. Who will stand up and offer to spend time and energy and give of themselves and their stories and some of the lessons they have learned along the way? Who will open the gate and extend the invitation for a walk that will be both freeing and restrictive?

If not you, then who? The future cries out for it.

This is so true. It is so necessary. It seems to have been so obviously lacking in many of the current leaders in the country [and possibly for reasons which make sense if we dig deeply enough into them]. But there is absolutely no reason why it needs to be lacking in the up and coming leaders of the future – in politics, in education, in churches, in business.

Those of us who have walked a bit longer of a journey need to flippin just get with the program [and if you live in Cape Town and are looking for something more official to jump into, check out the Life Matters Mentorship programme which is looking for volunteers in some local schools] but it really is all about being intentional and spending some time.

# Identify someone you would like to mentor and think you might be some form of help to/for/with.

# Approach them and ask them if they would like that or invite them for a coffee/milkshake and have a conversation and see if there is a natural click and then post the idea.

# Make times to hang out – if you can do once a week for an hour that would be priceless – but every second week or once a month can work as well – in addition to occasional check ins on Whatsapp or social media.

This is not rocket scientistry at all. It is time and involvement and an ear and a shoulder and an occasional “dude, stop that!” when it comes to social media postings that make me respond with “What a chop!” “What a flippin punk!” “Oi!” 

And a huge shout out to Val and Wayne and Linda and Mahlatse and Craig and Alexa and others who currently do a whole bunch of that and other stuff for me right now. Imagine the “What a chop!” “What a flippin punk!” “Oi!” ‘s i would be causing if they didn’t!!! 

Mentoring quote