The small boy walked behind his father. His father, being much taller than him, made it difficult for the youngster to keep his head tilted upward to look at his father. Instead, he looked at the shadow of his father towering over him. It was impressive and he felt secure. As years went by, he grew taller and his father was slightly frail, yet to him his father’s shadow became more than a memory. It it became his inspiration. He could now step out of his father’s shadow, confident but with respect and honour. In fact, the honour is in him living the legacy of his father and more.
Role models are those which inspire and it is part of learning to walk in the shadows of good and honourable people. Your first role models will, in most cases, be your parents and siblings. No matter how short that period is or how insignificant their contribution may appear to you, always respect them, your parents and siblings and your teachers generally. The age of television and now social media has caused confusion in the minds of many. The information and images you see are not ideal to be used in your development. Unless, you have a fair relationship with someone, their role in your life can, at best, be minimal. Behind public images may yet be lives that cast real dark shadows. Your growth will be like a weed growing wildly and weeds are not considered useful. You are more than that. Therefore, it is important to find a real model with the most distant person being that person who has written enough educational books that you can have more than a decent platform on which to build. The ideal growth is in the shadow that provides you with the comforts, the means to learn and understand and reach true maturity when you step out of the shadow.
A hint of maturity and growth is when you are able to discern the fact from the fiction. Maturity requires that you are not sucked in by mass media and that you don’t hop from one fake shadow to the next. Rather, maturity is knowing your responsibility to yourself and to become the shadow for those who need you. Maturity is in leaving a legacy and not be a statistic (a statistic is being merely a number; it is merely being one of the masses). Every person, young and old, must make such an effort to cast even the smallest shadow so that this process of leadership and training touches everyone and continues until the end of time.
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Picture courtesy: https://www.psychologytoday.com/
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