The Most Important Role Models Are…-Daily Meditation 6.15
Today’s quotation:
The most important role models in people’s lives, it seems, aren’t superstars or household names. They’re “everyday” people who quietly set examples for you–coaches, teachers, and parents. People about whom you tell yourself, perhaps not consciously, “I want to be like that.”-Tim Foley
Today’s Meditation:
I try to stay conscious that I’m a role model— whether I want to be or not or think I am. The simple fact of the matter is that younger people are looking for models as they learn more and more about the world, and somewhat naturally, they look to people who have been around much longer than they have. So I try always to be positive and not to do things I would have to apologize for. I try to share hope, love, and compassion so that young people may see that example and think that that may be a good thing to do.
I have no idea how successful I am. But it is imperative to me to try teaching younger people by example, not just by words. I don’t want to be that person who says one thing and then does another; I’d rather be the person who doesn’t say anything at all but does what I know to be right, constructive, and kind. If anyone in the future ever says, “I wanted to be like him,” I sincerely hope they’re talking about something positive rather than something negative.
If I take being a role model seriously, I need to make decisions that truly reflect my desire to make the world a better place, even if only in a minimal way. I can be critical of things that deserve criticism–I don’t have to be a cheerleader or look at the world through rose-colored glasses. I also want to be realistic; if something is bad, it needs to be called bad and dealt with.
The young people in our world need to hear less complaining and less rationalization of mistakes and misdeeds and more encouragement and words of hope. They want and need us to be constructive rather than destructive, and they need us to make decisions they can emulate to be successful in life rather than decisions that will sabotage them if they were to emulate them.
Questions to consider:
What would a little kid say about the model you provide to him or her?
Why do so few people seem to take seriously the idea that they’re role models for young people?
What traits would you like to pass on to younger people through the model you provide?
For further thought:
Children have more need of models than of critics.-Joseph Joubert (also attributed to Carolyn Coats)
If you missed our last Daily Meditation, it is here.
