Step where I have stepped

When my aunt Lidet Fantaye picked me up after school on rainy days, she used to instruct me to carefully follow her steps so that I won't dirt my shoes. After a downpour, the ground got all wet and swampy, and for a kindergartener, it was quite difficult to discern where to step. As I followed her, I made my focus only on her footsteps, so it was clear to me that as long as she leads me, I won't get dirty.

I never realized the power of that experience until I came to college. My image of college was a clear, clean road. But, it turns out, it is wet ground after a downpour. I believed that college was a place where you find yourself, but in reality, it is a place where you lose your identity. Hollywood tricked me into thinking that things come easily, and subconsciously I was expecting the dots to connect without a lot of effort.

The people I admire, the people whose names are written in light seem like they had never passed through that dirt. They shine as if suffering is not in their dictionary.

But in all of this, there is this voice I hear whenever I feel like I am the only person in the world who is passing through a hard time. It says, "step where I have stepped." It was said to me by my aunt. It comforts me to know that she has already lived through what I am going through. 

"One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and help them navigate a course to their destination," said John C. Maxwell. For me, it is her ability to see what is ahead that guides me in this wilderness.

Mentoring is grand work. It is a beautiful circle of hope that gives people a safe space.

So here is for those people who held us when we can't handle ourselves, to those who remind us that we have more to give. It is they who make heroes in the world of quitters. Cheers to them!!! 🥂