be the change

I’ve always wanted a mentor.

someone who’d take me under their wing, provide guidance and wisdom and support, help me connect with those people I’m supposed to connect with.  someone wiser, more established, someone who’s been there and done that.  instead, my experience has been that most everyone I meet is in the same boat as I am in, using similar oars, being frustrated by the same currents and storms and periods of flat water and drifting.  this isn’t to say that I’ve never had hands reach out for mine and offer assistance; it’s just to say that it’s my dream to have someone who knows more than me, who knows better than me, to be in my corner.

(I’ve recently had someone come into my life who is, in a way, playing this role . . . it is early, there is much still unknown, but it’s possible we may move more into the mentor-mentee relationship.  I am grateful for what he and his wife have shared with me so far, and want to acknowledge this . . . thanks mark and kirsten.)

thus, in the spirit of mahatma gandhi who encourages us to be the change we wish to see in the world, I am working to share what I know, what I possess, who I am, with those who are trying to paddle through waters similar to those I choose to travel.

I have a friend who has written a manuscript–with her daughter as co-author–that is languishing in a cobwebbed computer file.  it needs attention: reviewing, tweaking, possibly editing . . . it needs to be read by someone else, someone who has some experience with writing and editing.  thus I offered to read it, to give my opinion of what might need to happen next, where it might go.  it happens to be a YA (young adult) book . . . I happen to know someone with multiple connections in that area.  I will do everything I can to help this friend and her daughter move forward with this manuscript, hopefully all the way to publication.

I have another friend who’s written a manuscript which I reviewed, offering suggestions and fixing errors and typos.  she’s leaning toward self-publication, and I offered to do anything I can to help her in that process, including formatting it.

I do these things because I’m able, because I receive some internal fulfillment from doing them, and, ultimately, because these are the things I myself wish to receive.  some say that the universe will respond, which would be fantastic.  but even if it doesn’t, I am deeply gratified by being even a small part of the creation of a book, whether it’s my own or someone else’s.  I’m quite certain mahatma would have felt the same.