Thursday, July 16, 2009

Johnnie Walker Ambassador



The Spartan with Christopher

I recently found myself standing next to and talking to Christopher Othieno. One of only two men in the region known as Johnnie Walker Ambassadors. A peerless connoisseur, and a teacher by training, Othieno is a fine speaker. Kenyan-born. Standing in his presence feels like a lot of the things I know matter little to the man I wanted to become. He has class, is irreverent, takes no hostages, and does what he does ruthlessly.

As we talked about how he was selected to become an ambassador, from his stay in Scotland, to his endeavours to teach a timeless tradition of exclusivity, passion, pursuit of excellence and desire for recognition, I see in this man a lot of the things I want to be, or at least , i hope to become.

As the end of the evening draws nigh, I see him gleam like a pastor preaching to new converts; like a mentor to a fresh batch of proteges. He is steady, firm, unflinching and a damn good speaker!

I think about mentors and proteges and how possibly the greatest mentor I have ever admired might leave me soon. The idea that the one person for whom you would move half the world will just up and go - creating panic, insecurity, heartache and disrepute looms over me. Like an axe over Antoinette.

I muse on the preponderance that if nothing else I will learn to be the best if nothing at all. But its not enough. Its not enough that they teach you to be the best. The movies lie to us when they say mentors hate their proteges outwardly but secretly love them. Mentors should be your friends, care about you enough to try and avoid breaking your heart. This is betrayal, of a high calibre, and there will be recriminations.

I look again at Christopher and I understand his dilemma. Tomorrow he will be on a flight back home and he might never remeber any of what happened here tonight. But for this chance I will to speak with him and ask him why he is the Ambassador for the Johnnie Walker Striding Man Society.

What drives him to be part of something so exclusive that even the people who should be part of it don't even know it exists? It is a society of men who appreciate that life is not easy but they have done their due diligence and paid their dues. Now they sit and 'exhale' [is what my mentor called it] and say

"I might not have achieved all my goals and targets but for today I will rest here and start tomorrow." They are driven by the idea that through perseverance any dream

ANY DREAM

can be realised.

We love our mentors. We are loyal. We are diligent because we believe in them; sometimes more than in ourselves. They have found their light and we hope that maybe, just maybe, we can borrow their light too; just a glimmer. But alas, we never can.

No We Can't

18 comments:

  1. SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. does he have anything to do wit the whisky???

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  3. Surprisingly deep for a post titled by whisky. I feel you.

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  4. @sera: who? are you talking about Christopher? well yeah he was trained as a man who has the finesse to sample and taste the most subtle differences in the whisky.
    @Mamapetero:it odd but i got an email yesterday that totally sent me into a rage with this mentor. totally go crazy on their ass, they wont even believe what going on.

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  5. I like the title of this one.
    If I was asked who my mentor is i'd say no-one

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  6. lol...This is so funny....Idolising the walker, but I have great respect for the tot.

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  7. wabula you can kiss ass.

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  8. well it is good that you have a mentor. not many people are that lucky...

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  9. mentorship is totally strange to me, ive done it on my own read,listened watched, never totally looked up to anyone, maybe its me, maybe my dreams are higher than my mentors, maybe i never met one... but great to know you got one

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  10. i think this is my best piece from you todate..good stuff

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  11. This muck wreaks of Arse Kissing. Spartakuss Dude!! You sound like an infatuated little gal with a crush on her cute young teacher...more power to you man...aren't there limits though???

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  12. @lulu: don't worry, mentors are seldom chosen...they just happen.
    @Sleek; Thanks dawg!
    @Liz:no liz, there are no limits to admiration. it is as boundless as the sky!
    @syb:i think we all have some form or shape of mentor. sometimes even self appointed!
    @Streetdude:dude if you knew anything about ass kissing you'd know how far you from the truth!

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  13. dude.........changed the profile. mentor!!!

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  14. you cant be a one winged angel dude
    a 2 horned, prolly 3 horned demon suits you

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  15. @ck: you love the wings dont you? thats why we are having this discussion innit?

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  16. ...This is a great piece. Mentors only light what they have done, and your job is to do it better than them.

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  17. Great writing! It's nice when you have someone to look up to, who looks out for you. It beats flailing around, hoping you're doing it right.

    The last mentor I almost had wanted quid pro quo. Where do you find the ones like you wrote about?

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  18. @Elle: I know the feeling of flailing.not a sexy image. and whats with the whole quid pro quo mento thing? That image feels wrong. You gotta keep looking Elle.

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