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Positive Role Models
"Cheerfulness and Compassion are Contagious"
The author wishes to remain anonymous
Edited by Shmuel Greenbaum
Printed with Permission of http://www.PartnersInKindness.org
I'm staying in Rochester, Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic while getting five weeks of radiation treatment for cancer. Over the past seven years I've spent a good deal of time here. This time some days have been pain free, and others have been quite painful. The one consistent thing that has helped me is the cheerfulness and compassion of the medical people I come into contact with two or three times a day. It's seemed to have bubbled over to me much more on this visit.
I find myself walking around the maze of underground walkways and skyways with a smile on my face, holding doors open and saying hello to strangers. I've become familiar enough with the hospitals, clinics and shops that I often give directions to others.
Most people are here because they have very serious ailments and diseases. I stay at a hotel that is connected to the Mayo "subway" system and so I often see people coming to and from the hotel into the clinic. The other day I was about to enter the elevator to go from the underground walkways to my hotel floor. At the far end of the subway I saw a couple walking slowly to the hotel elevator.
Instead of going up, I decided to wait for them. It probably was no more than a minute, at the most. They came around the corner and saw I was holding the elevator for them and they were so thankful. Then another couple, with one person in a wheel chair, came up to us, and we made room for them, too. It was the end of a long day for all of us, and both couples were quite thankful for someone caring enough to do a little act of kindness for them.
For some reason this act on my part made an impression on me; and these are things I do each day.
I've noticed while staying here that some people seem more cheerful than others, and make a point of sharing that hope and compassion with others. And it often works, and brightens people's days. So many people have made me feel better over the past three weeks; it's nice to realize I can do the same for others.
"Positive Role Models"
From Kindness: Making a Difference in People's Lives: Formulas, stories, and insights
By Zelig Pliskin
Printed with Permission of Shaar Press
Your role models create you. They are your vision of what you wish to do and to become. They provide a clear picture of the measures to be undertaken to get there. Helping someone find an empowering role model will make a major difference in his life.
Some questions you can ask are:
"Who do you admire and respect?" "What specifically do you admire and respect about that person?"
"If you could be like any specific individual, who would you choose?"
"If there were a few people who could teach you to be like them, who would you want to teach you?"
"Who have you met or read about that you would like to emulate?"
"Do you have a secret wish to be like any great person?" If the response is "no," you might ask, "If you would have a secret wish, what would it be?"
Read biographies of great people. They expand your mental vision as to what is possible for you. After reading a biography, think about other people you know who would gain from reading it. You can have a powerful influence by telling someone, "I can see you being like this person in the future."
If someone confides in you and says, "I see myself eventually being like this great person," take heed how you respond. Don’t belittle or ridicule him if you feel that this picture is too unrealistic. It’s almost a certainty that this person’s having a role model will enable him to accomplish much more than he would if he didn’t have this role model.
A friend made the following observation:
For a while I would ask each person I met, "Who is your role model?" An interesting pattern developed. Those who were most successful almost all immediately listed their role models. Those who were less successful either didn’t have one or would say, "I would like to be like this person. But it’s definitely out of my reach."
This showed me the importance of influencing young people to find role models and of getting people to see that even if they won’t exactly reach the level of their role models, following their role models will get them further than if they didn’t have that picture in mind.
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