Mirror Models

Hi all,

It's Aoife, who is seriously depressed to find out that she has to do a punishment :( *sigh*
Anyway, my laptop decided to say "sayonara" to the land of the living, which means I have had to resort to stealing my brother's in order to post this blog.
Hopeful it can be resurrected but we'll just have to see.

Anyway, this week theme is" Role Models" which for me is a toughie.
To be honest I've never really thought about who I would consider my role models.
But since people mirror in other what they wish to see in themselves, I suppose I do have quite a few.
For me as a kid while I looked up to plenty of people, I never really wanted to be like them. I thought that my older cousins were some of the wisest coolest people on planet but I didn't want to be them.My friend had a new doll but you could never part five year old me from the battered Barbie I had. I think I just wanted to be me, only problem was that I didn't know who "me" was yet and I'm still working on it.

The people who most drastically changed the way I view life and others has to be the Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green. Those two made me really look at what I had and value it. They made be feel like it was okay to be different, to chose a path other than the one most well worn. They made me realise that you must imagine people complexly and that empathy is a gift that is too often neglected. They changed my world view and I can never thank them enough for that. It seems incredible that they have managed to touch so many people's lives especially those they have never met but it seems that they have become the role models for many people who just want to be themselves. I won't go on about them for too long seeing as Danielle already explained about them so well.

My second group of role models are my basketball club members. They taught me that dedication and hard work lead to their own rewards and have shown me such kindness over the years. I think that I have always looked up to them and admired the way they treat new people as family. If I can ever achieve that level of kindness and openness with people I don't know then I consider myself content. Plus I always admired the fact that they are actually on time for things which is a skill I REALLY need to learn.

In the end, I think that we all model ourselves off everyone we see, after all that's how we learn as kid's. We take a little bit everyone we meet and add it to the jumbled mix of thoughts, emotions and experiences that make us who we are. In turn we become role models for others whether we realise it or not. So there's something to think about for the weekend!

'Til next time,
Aoife