Role Models

Role models are the people that we look up to, who inspire us and who we... I want to say 'idolise' but I think that's taking it too far.  Many people have 'celebrity' role models. Some of these are based on a chosen field that they are involved in. I know that I have many people who I admire in the field of music, both composers and performers alike. However, I personally think that it is the people that are around us, who we know, that are the best role models.

Parents and teachers are often seen as role models, mainly because they are with us and support us from an early age. We have to trust them for it is they who give us the basis for the rest of our lives.  As far as you know, your primary school teacher may well have been teaching you the alphabet wrongly... but we don't question it. It would be wrong to.

Our friends are probably the greatest role models we can have, because you get to pick them. I'm not saying that we should all give into peer pressure, but I really do have some great friends who inspire me, who are the reason I get up in the morning with a smile on my face no matter what has happened to me. Role models should encourage us, and my friends really do.

One of my closest friends is amazing at this. She doesn't know how much she inspires me with her strength in all the ways that you can judge strength (yes, she has a killer punch... believe me) and no matter what has happened she has been there for me, even when I've been a complete idiot. She has helped me get back to some form of sanity and happiness after the lowest I have been, and I know that I've caused her trouble along the way, but she has stood by me. She's my 'Peter' (that's not her name by the way because that would be a silly name for a girl. In Hebrew, 'Peter' means 'Rock', much like how 'Michael' means 'Who is like the Lord', but that's another story).

I don't see myself as a role model, even though I know I am to some people (a.k.a. idiots).  Even when I entered the 'big year' at my schools and we were told irrefutably that we were role models for the other years, it seemed weird that someone would want to imitate what I did.  I even have my disclaimer at the top of this blog telling people not to do what I do.  But I am a role model.  Numerous people have told me that they want to be able to play piano like me, or that they admire certain aspects of my personality and the thought scares me a little, but I'm learning to embrace it. It's like going first on an assault course. You have no idea what is ahead of you and everyone else is following you and copying your every move, seeing if they can improve upon it when you make a mistake. The only thing being, as the first person, you get all the fun of the experimenting and the challenge of the unexpected.

We are all role models, so let us all take turns in tackling the assault course first one at a time.

And a big THANK YOU to everyone I know. You all inspire me so much with your support, and a special thank you goes out to Kung Fu Panda! (Yes, you know who you are!)

Stay Strong
Michael