Mentoring

Interesting thoughts on mentoring from Stuart Brent in The Seven Stairs:

He will not forsake you when the going is rough, but in his relations he holds to a fine line between friendship and duty--and holds you to this line also. I had already experienced the danger of the kind of benefactor who tends to take over your life for you but with Jack Pritzker there is never this danger. He prefers that you make it on your own. If you are beset by circumstances which you cannot control, he is there; but if you are merely waiting for something to happen, you can expect nothing but the criticism you deserve.

Pritzker's approach is almost identical to that of one of the two main characters of my novel, a successful pioneer farmer who befriends a worthy but drifting younger man, and subtly works to help him establish himself. Brent's quotation is an inspiration to me--I'll definitely keep this idea in mind while I'm doing the first of many rewrites.