when she found out I too am a professional instructor, we invested the next several hours giving tutor exercising and teaching war testimonies, evaluating notices on effective methods of exercising, talking about how to deal with difficult individuals, and the latest research on learning concepts.

I have met interesting people with interesting lives; I am definitely impressed by these people. But a mentor is not only someone who impresses you but also someone who inspires you. And for me, some of the most inspirational people are characters from books. Is it okay that some of my mentors are fictional? I feel like it is okay. For many people, their mentors are historical figures or important people they never even met. In that case, the person that they see as their mentor might be based on reality but it is inevitable that some fictional characteristics are incorporated into the personality of their mentor. For me, it is wonderment, not necessarily truthfulness, that makes a mentor so important.

I stumbled onto this website because I have been doing research for a paper that my "Advanced Composition and Critical Thinking" professor has assigned. I have, for some time now, realized that there have been some great mentors in my life that have shaped who and what I am today. Most of the mentors that have influenced me have been music teachers/directors. I believe I became an opera singer because of their positive influence on me. However, I recently have gone back to school to finish my degree because I am continuously running into the reality that being an opera singer in today's society is financially difficult. Opera singers just don't get paid what I believe is a deserving salary (unless you are in the top 1% of opera singers gaining a respectable salary by today's standards). The irony is, my current professor, who assigned the research paper (Mr. Steve Williams, Prof. at Foothill College in Los Altos, CA), is my current mentor simply because he has introduced me to other great mentors (Confucius and Plato). I am now in the search of my definition of happiness, and am realizing that it is leading me back to opera/music. The question now is, how do I pursue a passion/career I enjoy and find important to society when I know this career most likely will produce very little financial compensation, much emotional/mental/financial sacrifice and is regarded by the public as a luxury rather than a cultural necessity? Maybe I should pursue a job as a businessman and work for AIG! They seem to be well compensated for the virtuous and necessary work they accomplish!

I think it's interesting to note how behind every great person there is a mentor or teacher who is to the great person how they are to us, yet we never hear about these teachers or mentors. I think that the question of mentor and teachers should be adressed more in interviews with famous and or important people.

Funny to come across this today—I just completed a section in my FB profile page, "people who inspire you." Dr. Edwin Cole, Alice H. Garside, Elizabeth A. K. Dailey, Jeanne S. Chall, and Sylvia O. Richardson are on my shortlist. Each made a major contribution to my life and work. Some lives shine with extra intensity, lighting the way for others.

Professor Gardner is right-on: organisations like Artists For Humanity help young people (and adults!) learn how to be mentors, be mentored, and find out calling. That's where true learning occurs.

In this video, Howard Gardner, whom I have admired and quoted for years, says some things I have deeply felt about my own mentors - things I have felt very deeply. I am thankful that he so easily found the words I, myself have trouble expressing. It's a kind of validation. I thank God every single day for those mentors/messengers sent into my life to influence me and my work. And I echo Professor Gardner's hope that my students and children will continue to pass on the legacy of the wisdom, tools and enthusiasm for life I've internalized from those who have influenced me.