Growing up, usually we’ve had some role models for various aspects of our lives. That is to say, we’ve tried to be like someone who, as best we understood it, was exemplary in some or many ways.
Our role models included people distinguished by, for example, looks, strength, popularity, sex appeal, power, money, insight, academic achievement, heroism, skill, artistry, generosity, leadership, holiness, or beauty.
We’re all somewhat familiar with Halls of Fame—that is, places that call attention to and commemorate people distinguished by a particular kind of achievement—for example, pro football or baseball.
Although not necessarily commemorated in a Hall of Fame, many people are selected as exemplars in their chosen field. Just think of the Academy Awards for different successes in motion pictures, or medals awarded for valor in the military.
In Washington, DC., there are monument erected to distinguished Americans—e.g., George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King.
All over, there are monuments, pictures, busts, and statutes of special people held up for us as models and achievers for better or for worse, from beauty contests to elections!
Sometimes people are honored during their life, although that can become disappointing since people tend to improve or decline with the passage of time.
That’s why so many people are not completely held up as exemplars or role models until they have died—and even so, they are not held up as models in every single aspect of their lives; except for a special dispensation of God, no human person is perfect in every way.
Many years ago I was at the funeral for Pope John Paul II. Towards the end of the ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, many people began to cry out, “Santo subito!”
“Saint right away!” was what they wanted, that he be honored as a saint.
Canonization of a saint is a solemn declaration that the person was so distinguished by their quality of life that they now must be in heaven—and may be called upon as our intercessor before God.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that the person was 100% perfect in every way, but it does hold up the person as a model to be imitated, as an example of faith and goodness for each of us.
We’re all called upon and challenged to live lives as nearly perfect and as exemplary we can—but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will be singled out for any award or Hall of Fame.
Life is filled with unsung heroes/heroines known only to a few people or maybe only to God. Very few are publicly recognized, acclaimed, remembered, and held up as role models.
Those held up as exemplars in one time and place may not be esteemed the same way in another; values change, and few people stand the test of time and continue to stand as role models through the ages.
Each of us may have had role models known only to ourselves—and, conversely, we may have become a role model for another in some ways without realizing it.
As children we learned by imitating and taking after others. Sometimes we realized that our choice of role models was a mistake—and sometime it was a mistake and we never realized it.
You’re a role model, each of us is a role model, whether we know it or not. Of course, we’re not and never will be perfect models. But, we try to do the best we can!
23 January 2022