To the Protege: Genuine Imitation
I love words. I love finding just the right word to describe a feeling, a scene, an aspiration, or the precise concept because I like words; I like to play with them. I like others who play with words as well. I remember a comedy sketch by the late George Carlin that comes to mind; it's about the funny things we do with words, particularly oxymoron phrases. The one that rings in my mind right now from the monologue is "jumbo shrimp." But of course there are many: "awfully good," "autopilot," "new classic," "aging yuppies," "astronomically small," "a little pregnant," "or almost done." Some people take the sarcastic route to point out shortcomings or their own aggravations: "military intelligence," "good government," or "athletic scholarships."
But one oxymoron comes to mind as I consider a project I'm getting into this week. I am going to help an aging mentor of mine write his first book. The mentor, Jack, is one of the wisest people I've ever known. A professor of mine more than 30 years ago, his insights have influenced my thinking and practices on a weekly, and sometimes even on a daily, basis. Jack, having had more than five decades in pastoral leadership of families, four and a half decades of marriage and family therapy as a psychologist, and four decades as a professor of marriage and family counseling, he has some of the most keen insights into love, human communication, and the adult development process. He appreciates the social, intellectual, and spiritual literatures that influence the thinking around some of these themes. At 86 years old, he is now ready to put these words in writing.
My job is to be his hands, not a ghostwriter exactly, but the one who faithfully captures his dictated thoughts. We will spend several days together. He will be comfortably seated at a table with something warm to drink while reading the outline of several chapters he has already framed out. Me, managing computers, digital recording devices, and video cameras to preserve this man's silver-tongued words, in these, his golden years.
Capturing the legacy of this man's most potent thoughts with the assistance of his daughter, who has also become a scholar and professor in the same institution and department in which he taught all those years, may be one of the most important pieces of work I accomplish in my experience with mentoring and legacy leaving.
But what does this have to do with an oxymoron? There are two words, which have been swimming around in my mind as I have sought to justify why I might be qualified to be the hands and voice of this seasoned mentor. It is these two words..."Genuine Imitation."
You see, I was not merely a student of Jack's 30 years ago. I absorbed his lessons so deeply I have sought to represent, articulate, extend, and apply his messages throughout my teaching career. I have lived his words. I have, at times, mimicked his very inflections as I pressed home to learners some of the lessons gained from his life and teaching.
In my culture, "imitation" is not looked upon fondly. We like things that are "authentic," "real," "without artificial ingredients." If it is an imitation, then we know we're going to pay less for it, but we also know "you get what you pay for." However, in the case of mentoring, a "genuine imitation" might be the best compliment one can pay to a mentor. It certainly is the best indication a protégé has developed mastery, and an authentic demonstration they have absorbed learning from the life of another person.
In the case of Jack, I have lived his words. I am an excellent choice as the “writing hand” of a man who helped shape my life. I am "a genuine imitation" of this nearly 90-year-old shaper of lives.
Are you becoming a genuine imitation of anyone?
