Role Models

Growing up people always asked me who my role model was. At an early age I was obsessed with gymnastics so Mary Lou Retton was my idol. I wanted to be just like her with the short hair and the big smile bouncing all over the gym. 

As I grew older and literature and writing became my passion, I began to find inspiration from other writers. I really aspired to be like Joyce Carol Oates but there was no way I could keep up with her prolific writing so that kind of fell to the wayside. I still enjoy her writing but I don’t idolize it as much as I used to. I respect her imagination and the ability that she has to put out about 4 books  a year. But I know I can’t do that so I don’t bother. 

I also really liked Batgirl and Sabrina from Charlie’s Angels. They were smart girls who were pretty and led mysterious lives. So I looked up to them but as I got into my gymnastics phase, they went away like a passing fad. 

Now that I am older, I can’t say I have a role model. I find it very hard to admire people in the same way that I did as a kid. I don’t look up to them and want to be them as much as respect where they are and how they got there. 

Recently though I’ve begun to wonder what the point of having a role model is. With the news of Lance Armstrong’s decision to not pursue the doping charges, I kept thinking ‘what is the point of even admiring a person?’ Yes, we are all human and we make mistakes but people really thought the world of him. I even thought he was incredibly courageous in battling cancer and coming back to the cycling world and making such a big statement. I wasn’t as upset about the recent news but I know other people who were very influenced by him. With his doping charges along with some of the other winners of the Tour de France, I began to wonder what the point of the sport is anymore. 21 days of riding intensely insane routes only to be found taking some kind of endurance enhancing drug? What’s the point? 

I also thought about so many track and field stars who fly across the finish line only to be found taking steroids. How disappointing is that to some child who wants to do the same thing? They see their god striped of their medals and banned from the sport – what is the motivation to keep trying? I know you have to look within yourself for the inspiration and the drive but when everyone around you just wants to get a cut of the paycheck, how do you keep your integrity? 

It’s sad to me that the types of people I looked up to as a kid no longer mean anything to me. They’ve lost their value and meaning. And it’s sad that this younger generation really has no one to give them that energy to strive to be the greatest. No one but their inherent beings, which isn’t too bad when you think about it. It should always be about you making your own goals and attaining them. It’s just sad that role models don’t seem to exist anymore and that kids of today probably won’t look back as fondly on any particular person as I did when I was a kid. I guess it’s probably better since mine have all been forgotten and they can look towards something better to become the greatest.