Six years ago today Chicago native Richard Taylor was recovering from a suicide attempt, today he’s a best-selling author and a mentor to countless youth. If you ask him how he did it, he’ll tell you: Mentoring works!
—
6 years ago today, January, 20th 2008, I was sitting in the emergency room with doctors rushing to clean up the overwhelming amount of blood pouring from my left wrist. A lifestyle I had tried to hide for the last 10 years had just been exposed in a matter of hours.
I was a 20 year-old college sophomore on my final leg of academic probation – hanging on with a 1.4 GPA. I was depressed, being physically and verbally abused in a relationship and I had put on 170lbs in the two years of college. I hated life; I hated myself and I felt like I didn’t deserve to live.
After my suicide attempt made headlines in the school news paper I was left with two options: try it again and succeed or drop out of school and deal with the ridicule.
On my way back to campus to pack my bags and move out, I get an unexpected call from a gentleman who said he wanted to meet with me. He was one of my teachers for that current semester. I went to his office thinking he was going to chew me out and tell me I couldn’t be a part of his class this semester. When I walked in the office he greeted me normally and his first words to me were: “I know what happened; you made a mistake; it’s okay; your life still has purpose!”
This gentleman, Quincy Paden, became my first mentor. While I was expecting him to treat me like an outcast, he looked beyond my faults and saw my needs; particularly, my need to be helped and impacted by a person who genuinely cared.
While I was hesitant to accept his help to get my life on track and stay in school, it did give me a sense of hope that things could get better. Over the next few months I had countless meetings with a therapist and I had to go to every study and tutoring session imaginable. These were just a few of the resources he introduced me to. For the first time in my life I had someone who was consistent with me and held me accountable to ensure that I would be successful.
By the end of that semester I was able to get off of probation and I raised my GPA to a perfect 4.0. In my mind I thought this was it and I was back in my own, but to my surprise Quincy stayed consistent in helping me for the next three years to graduation. His love and compassion to see me succeed rubbed off on me as I work now to do the same for my mentees.
Money is cool, but when someone goes above and beyond their job requirements or sticks their head out for you when they don’t have to, it speaks volumes to their character. I personally never thought that I would come back after my last suicide attempt, not just to school but to life.
However, someone saw the best in me during my worst times and I’m still here today. In my opinion, mentoring is more than just going to the movies with a young person or volunteering at a school, mentoring is about being bold, courageous, and selfless, and using those values to impact someone else’s life.
I believe that our purpose in life is to use our gifts to help change the lives of others. We never know how close to the end someone can be and this is why it’s important to be proactive in the lives of young people and not to wait until they have that experience for you to use your power of change. Take it from me, someone who went from the hospital bed leaking blood to center stage giving love, mentoring works.
Happy National Mentoring Month! Celebrate by becoming a mentor today!
CLICK HERE TO SEE BLACK MALE MENTORS IN THE NEWS!
B.O.L.D member Richard Taylor is a best-selling author and motivational speaker based in Chicago, Illinois.
**Editors note: Christopher “Flood The Drummer” Norris has curated all of these stories from the mentors in his community for a special a series on mentoring. After the series is complete all of the essays will be made into a book by TechbookOnline.
Source: TBO Inc®
Twitter: @therealTBOInc
Facebook: /therealTBOInc
©2014 All Rights Reserved.
—