I've always loved the idea of a mentor. Its something I grew up with- one day I'll meet the person(s) who'd inspire me and guide me to achieve success and in the process I'd become a better 'me'. Ofcourse then I'd be famous and in my autobiography I'd get a chance to thank this person(s).
Over the years there have been many who have captivated me as I childishly fixated on them and imagined them as a mentor, patiently waiting for their guidance. There have been a couple of teachers, a few family members, an ex friend and even a stranger on a train. But their influence faded a little with growing distances between us or their follies coloured my views of them or they slipped out of my life completely.
Now I've given up looking for guidance from a mentor and am learning to trust my instincts as the best guide. But the people who continued as my mentors through the influence of their incredible lives are people I would never meet- Rabindranath Tagore(author,singer,mystic), Louis Pasteur(scientist), Begum Rokeya(educator), Joseph Lister(scientist) and Audrey Hepburn (actor, she is less mentor and more the kind of woman I want to emulate in looks and mannerism I guess).
Interesting coincidence about the last person- I found out that one of two her favourite poems was 'Undending Love' by Tagore. The other one, which is more like a inspiring forward than a poem but still nice, goes something like this :

Time-Tested Beauty Tips

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone..

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed.
Never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands.
One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

by- Sam Levenson

Its sound advice in humility. Very Gandhi like in the manner of "you'd never realize the importance of torn shoes until you've met the man with no legs". Or something like that quote was always showing up in the Indian School textbooks in Kuwait. That quote alone had a bigger influence on me before I found out about his his entire life story. But then Mahatma Gandhi is a generic mentor for eveyrone along with Mother Teresa.

Anyway, my mentor's accomplishments at the end of difficult times, is what I'm trying to remind myself of these days so that I can go through with living in Vancouver for the next little while and not go compltely over the edge.