= Alexander the Great =

“Alalalai!”

5.3 Mentor and Disciple Day

I had just completed the trilogy on Alexander by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It had been a wonderful adventure following the journey of Alexander the Great. Alexander was a man who understands the spirit of mentor and disciple. It was his determination to keep the heroes he loved in his heart that fueled his dreams of unifying the known world.

Alexander conquered the ancient Persian empire and continued to advance ever east, all the way to India. Along the way, he did his best to integrate the Persians and Indians into his courts in an attempt to demonstrate to his Greek contemporaries, who discriminated against non-Greeks, that all of humankind is ultimately one.

“What is my task today? It is to fight. What is my task tomorrow? It is to win.” – Victor Hugo

Alexander’s childhood teacher, the famed Aristotle, once wrote a letter warning him: “Make Greeks your friends, but treat the Barbarians as you would animals or plants.”

But Alexander did not agree. He asserted that it is not birth, but education, that determines whether a person is civilized or a barbarian. He replied: “A good person is my friend; an evil person is my enemy.”