Switched-On Magazine

After reading a fellow Switched-On blogger's post on the undesirable transformation of her role model, I began to consider my own role models. We all have someone we look up to as a role model, whether we are conscious of it or not. It could be our father, our mother, other relatives, our friends, celebrities, or just some random stranger that did something especially inspirational. Even fictional characters can be a role model for some people. Role models are even more important for teenagers as we are in the stage when we're trying to find who we want to be and develop our individual personalities. Teenagers just want to be like our role models whether it may be because of how they deal with situations or their personality. You are definitely not limited to one role model because there are unique qualities in everyone that might help you become a better person.

Of course, we can't expect humans to be perfect, and neither can we expect our role models to be perfect at all times. Therefore, even as teenagers, we need to learn to pick out the qualities that are good while hopefully avoiding the qualities that may be detrimental. For example, your role model might be wonderful at speeches, but he's also a smoker so what do you do? Observe his charisma when making speeches but don't take up the cigarettes. However, some role models may not be beneficial for you at all. For some fairly extreme examples, you don't want to be popular for dealing drugs or for being the school bully -- that's definitely not the way to fame to take. Choose wisely; both when choosing a role model and when choosing the individual qualities to learn from.

Another point I'd like to bring up in the discussion of role models is that in addition to you being able to observe and learn from the good qualities of others, you could also potentially become a role model yourself. It doesn't matter if you're "only” a teenager. You can still be a role model for your friends/peers or maybe even younger children if you have some around you (like siblings or someone you babysit). Don't underestimate your ability to affect others and think twice before you do something undesirable. You don't have to be the next president but keep in mind that your actions will affect others in one way or another and know your boundaries.