What does the word "Role Model" mean to YOU

The word "role model" probably makes some people cringe. It sounds self-righteous and too sweet. A great role-model today, certaintly has something that makes them "edgy". Take Angelina Jolie for example. As beautiful as a goddess, but she has been inked so much that no one forgets her bad girl image, even as she crusades arounds the world for children with a soul as sweet as Mother Teressa.

So whether you have a "Past", whether you have "warts", whether you have overcome an addiction (or are trying), or whether you are still a work in progess on a multitude of levels...a complicated mix of good and bad and still trying to figure it out, day by day...YOU are the person we are looking for. Real Role MODELS like you.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

To laugh often and much:
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children,
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others,
to leave the world a bit better
whether by a healthy child
a garden patch,
or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed
easier because you lived.
This is to have succeded.
Ralph Waldo emerson

And, this to me, is what it means to be a "Role MODEL".

Enjoying this snowy day in Westchester, NY
Namaste
Ann Bissll Luke

January 28, 2010 6:39 AM