Today’s podcast is on an invaluable insight from Master & Apprentice, a novel by Claudia Gray about Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Before we met them in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, these two Jedi did not always get along. Qui-Gon even wanted to dump Kenobi as his Padawan learner during this time. They were oil and water. Why was Obi-Wan so reactive to Qui-Gon Jinn’s loose nature as a teacher? Young people are contrarian by nature of their age. Here’s what Qui-Gon had to learn….
“What your Padawan is doing is totally normal. Adolescents go one of two ways. They’re either rebels to the core, or even stricter than their elders. So Obi-Wan’s the latter. He’ll relax after a while. Know what? If his new Master is stricter than you, I bet he’ll loosen up immediately, just to be contrary.”
This is what Rael Averross says to Qui-Gon Jinn, who is distraught about his messy relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jinn is a rule breaker and Obi-Wan is a rather puritanical Jedi. But part of what Learners do is they see both your best and your worst. They borrow from what they like, and dispense with what they don’t. It’s natural.
Don’t be offended when YOUR Padawan does the same.
They are growing. Testing boundaries and their own convictions.
Let them. Keep watch, but let them feel out their own values.
It’s not all about you. This is the way.
In case you missed the latest from This Is The Way, we have a new short article about making the most of adventures, those you planned and those you never saw coming.
To go along with this piece, we have an interview on YouTube with author James Pethokoukis. As promised, we’re doing more than ever at This Is The Way to give you more value, more content, and more actionable ideas to reflect on.
Master & Apprentice: There will be difference