Choosing role models

Hero-worshipping and fan clubs are commonplace in any society. Fan-following and idolising the archetypes can provide much stimulation for the common man. As Oprah Winfrey, the popular American talk show host, said, “For everyone of us that succeeds, it’s because there’s somebody there to show you the way out.” Caution should, however, be the watchword in choosing the right kind of role models.

Unfortunately in contemporary culture, wrong idols are looked up on, picked and imitated. Often, flippant and flamboyant showbiz stars are revered. Ruthless and dishonest political leaders become the norm. Crooks and scam advocates are repeatedly backed by many. Self-styled godmen and deceiving conmen are habitually honoured. Agitators and problem-seekers are easily followed. Pseudo-heroes thus take centre stage. Real heroes are frequently pushed to the background resulting in an apparent lack of worthy role models among us.

Yet, identifying good role models and using their fine examples to mentor and inspire us will awaken the dead spirit in us and help us surge ahead braving whatever life circumstances we might find ourselves in. For, in every good role model lies the common telling tale of adversity, struggle and the will to succeed with integrity. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a space scientist, for instance used Marie Curie, the Polish Nobel-winning physicist and chemist, as her role model to wade through life’s challenges to realise her ambitions.

“Marie Curie was a dedicated scientist who spent long hours in the lab. People think that scientists go into a lab, make a discovery, and come out with a Nobel. But success takes years and years of attention to detail, doggedness and stubbornness: and that’s what Marie Curie put in,” she writes, stressing on the inspiration she drew from her role model, in Intelligent Life Magazine.

The right role models can thus help us anchor ourselves to the ground rules that in the end are required to play this game of life. Their fine example can lift us and help us fathom that troubles and barriers have to be met and crossed to win this game of life. Even Theodore Roosevelt said, “I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

In her book, The Art of Living, author Sharon Lebell summarises powerfully: “One of the best ways to elevate your character immediately is to find worthy role models to emulate. Invoke the characteristics of the people you admire most and adopt their manners, speech and behaviour as your own. We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.”