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Today's
quotation:
Having a role model in life is a great thing to
have;
one who provides us with direction and inspiration. However, we will forever be restricted by that person's
limitations if we live within their boundaries. Be
influenced, but set your own standards and
develop your
own principals, if you are ever
to live beyond someone
else's dreams.
Jason Shahan
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Today's
Meditation:
Role
models are important parts of our lives, for they give us
examples that we can live up to, goals that we can set for
ourselves. But having a role model shouldn't mean
adopting a set of limitations to our dreams and
hopes. We each end up with our own sets of
boundaries and limitations in our lives, and it's
important that we don't allow a role model to affect us so strongly
that we limit our own lives based on the limitations in
their lives.
A
father may be a great role model in ethics and character,
but if he's never been able to get out of debt in his
life, then we don't want to adopt those same limitations
in our own lives. There are few things that have the
potential to undermine ethics and character as financial
problems. A young woman may admire one of her
teachers, but it may be that by adopting that teacher's
limitations (perhaps not furthering her education, or
refusing to apply for promotions), the young woman may
never fulfill her full potential.
Recognizing
other people's boundaries is not a question of judgment--
we should try to do it with as much objectivity
as possible in order not to judge. People are what
they are, but it's important that we recognize that we
shouldn't want to be what someone else is-- we should want
to be what we have the potential to be. "Be
influenced," Jason says, "but set your own
standards."
We
will meet our own limitations, and hopefully we'll be able
to overcome them and move past them. But we never
will be able to do so if we adopt the limitations of our
role models, and we won't be able to avoid them unless we
look objectively enough to be able to recognize
them. Let others limit themselves, and address your
own limitations on your own terms.
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