In the story of Acts of Faith, told and written by Eboo Patel, a child is raised a devout Muslim and ends up founding the Interfaith Youth Core. The Interfaith Youth Core brings young people, of different religious and moral traditions, together for cooperative service and dialogue around shared values. Eboo Patel created a place where youth can voice their religious beliefs and how it relates to social justice issues around them. The youth influence each other and are put in charge of influencing other youth in their lives. Although youth can influence each other they are not just influenced by their peers. Adults in that person’s life influence the kind of person they are going to turn into. Some of the early mentors in our lives are our …show more content…
Young people need a role, an opportunity to be powerful, a chance to shape their world and mentors help them achieve this” (Patel 16). The YMCA staff were the first mentors to open Eboo Patel’s eyes to the sharing of religious faith. His camp counselors encouraged Eboo to join the Leaders’ Club, a YMCA group for teenagers that focused on volunteering as a key to leadership development. At the Leaders’ School they also took turns speaking about different religious beliefs. Eboo tells his parents that they sung Christian songs and Eboo’s father expresses concern for the lack of “Muslim-ness” presented because of this. “Do they think they are trying to teach Christianity to our kids?” he asked, the tone of his voice a kind of auditory chest thumping. “I hope so, “his mother responded. “ I hope they teach the kids Jewish and Hindu songs, too. That’s the kind of Muslims we want our kids to be (Patel 17). It is with Eboo’s mother statement that we see a bit of Eboo in them and vice versa. Eboo’s family played a huge role and were major mentors in his life. Patel Family’s beliefs are very similar to my own family’s beliefs. Eboo’s family provided Eboo with Muslim roots. They taught him the importance to give back to community and how it is related to their religion. They wanted Eboo to be a well- rounded person and valued every aspect of life. His family introduced him to the importance of education and …show more content…
I want to be the type of mentor that teaches them about different backgrounds while still focusing on their own backgrounds. I want to be the kind of teacher that supports their students and a teacher that all of the students look up to for guidance and support. I want to be the type of teacher who expects great things from their students and not the type of teacher who assumes the worst in them. I want to be someone’s teacher and mentor. Mentors and teachers can make or break a child. Good mentors can lead a child to believe that anything is possible for them and lead them to a light path of success; away from the evils around them. Eboo Patel’s story and my story are one in the same. Our lives could easily have changed if it wasn’t for the mentors or the adults in our lives. Our youth can be easily influenced but it is how the adults, in our lives, use this influence over youth that can change their story or our own