Mentoring a Go-getter… thru Storytelling

This post was inspired by a thought-provoking piece I came across, touching on a sentimental echo many might recall all too well… never forget where 'we' come from.

This phrase, 'never forgetting where 'we' come from', as like many others I've since been discovering, means a number of things to an assortment of individuals.

But take the remembering where we've come from, as if we could ever forget, we've probably seen and heard, and maybe even witnessed the events before. A child raised in the struggle running off to fame and glory, to never look back.

Or the star-studded sensation assumed to be raking in millions but won't spare a loose dime worth of time on those swearing they've been left behind. That being…not until trouble comes floating, or racing up behind, where by now here they come, suddenly remembering where they come from.

Perhaps there might be another version to add on to these familiar old rhymes, but right now I'm thinking of a backstory that reminds me of what a true supporting fan is.

I'm seeing a parent who goes to a game; peewee football or the majors, to see their child play. It's been a long way getting to this day. The parent has fed and clothed this child, kept a roof over the child's head… and cried, prayed, advised, and supported this child all the way to the center of the field.

And so now, there the child is, out in the center of the field finally playing. And there the parent is, up in the nosebleed section of a stadium cheering like no parent ever will cheer.

Suddenly something happens, and don't ask what, because this is the part where we start discovering all the rhymes to the riddle asking, who's supporting, encouraging, abandoning?? WHO?

Let's say the child starts acting a plum fool right out there in the center of the field! Or let's say the parent starts getting chilly… maybe their voice is growing tired and waning… or they start looking around feeling forgotten and lonely. All of these reasons are reasons enough to start trying to answer that riddle, who's supporting, encouraging, abandoning?? WHO?

As for me personally, I don't put too much stock into chasing the race. In other words, I believe a true supporter rides both waves, when the tide is riding high, and when the waves are crashing ashore. They hang in there through the good and bad, and the thick and thin. If I found myself up in a nosebleed section feeling lonely and left out, I'd grab a friend, or move with the section cheering the loudest. And if it's one of my go-getter's, out in the middle of this field making an absolute spectacle of the themselves, then I'd hope like the high mighty heavens they DO remember home! Please come home, child. Because I will be waiting for you just as soon as you get in!

But that's just me. What type of supportive fan are you?