The personification of a role model.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” ― Oscar Wilde
When young, we often look up to our parents to provide us with everything we seek. Their day to day actions, subconsciously, help us gather our own values. The mother happens to be the first teacher and the father, the first insurer. As we grow, we meet more people who with themselves, bring new values. One often finds themselves at a fork in the road and are made to choose one, when the values clash and with the steps, they take, it carves the roads and forks ahead. New ideas and new values thus become the plot of their story.
A role model has to be someone one looks up to and aspires to be like.
The inspiration part plays a huge role in value creation for an individual. Since more often than not one finds himself changing roads and switching ideologies, a single person is just not enough to be looked upon. As there are plenty of success stories and personal definitions of success, one has the choice to choose and reflect upon at only those aspects of one's life which they find relatable and inspirational. This choice, and the internet, has helped us in adapting to more than a few ideas. A role model is now an amalgamation and not a physical entity.
It occurs as a natural thought that the first role models will be one's parents. When they grow old enough to step out of their homes and ready to meet the world, one class at a time, at schools, some of them find their teachers to be a good example of discipline and hence chose them to be their role models. Teachers changed with classes and they brought different styles and methods of teachings. One finds themselves intrigued by a few and imitated them, when among friends or alone. Either as a form of mockery or personal inspiration, the teacher marked their presence in their lives.
The game of imitation and mockery never stops and spills beyond childhood and adolescence. The role model takes various shapes and are found across a multitude of occupations. A programmer seeks a better programmer, a scientist seeks a more experienced scientist.
The quest is to grow. The medium is to imitate. The result is a role model.
As far as the role model is concerned, how about having yours as your future self! That way you are always improving yourself and every new day is a chance to be better than the person you were yesterday. Living life one day at a time and improving it through the course.
When people are presented with choices they tend to choose based on their experience or intuition. They don't want bad things to happen to them and this fact drives the choices they make. The goal should be to imitate the good virtues and learn those from everyone we meet. There is no rule and never will be to bind someone to a limit. The human life will always be chaotic and it seems wise to learn from some famous mistakes so that we are always moving ahead on the path of being perfect.
