A Personal Inspiration

A Role Model who shaped my life.

On our long journey through life there are waypoints that offer us significant influence. The influence can offer a sense of interest, a desire to follow, and might impact the rest of our lives. If this makes one feel that this is for a path to be taken, then this might color our days with a healthy and satisfying content. If it is a bad influence, this could take us down a dark alley; a route with fearful or depressing days that give us only problems and anger. Let’s hope that most of our waypoints are good ones. While the waypoints might be events—startling or historic—these influences are almost always other people, the human relationships that we encounter.

One of my most influential relationships was with a young man named John Scott. I was about 16 years old, and he was a few years older. we were lifeguards at the local beach. As one of the five guards, we had a lot of innocent fun—teaching first aid and lifesaving to swimmers and beach goers, planning to go to Woodstock, pizza nights, lake hopping, listening to music on records, and good teenage bonding. We all looked up to John, the oldest, and absorbed some good qualities that he exuded. He was a great skier on the professional circuit and a good swimmer and avid bicyclist. He has since passed. But his influence continues.

Qualities that John had were many and clustered around a quiet and caring patience.  He was intelligent and thoughtful. He would listen to anyone’s problems and would volunteer to help that person regardless of the time or labor required. John was kind to all whom he encountered, aware of their concerns once he was alerted to their needs. He particularly befriended the several challenged individuals who would venture to the beach. For such a strong athletic type he was known as being gentle. 

Looking back in time, John’s qualities above influenced me greatly. I continue my high regard to teaching, which I have done at university level and even today by helping grammar schoolteachers describe history to students. John reinforced maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and I have fashioned my eating habits around this, to my benefit it seems, as the years roll by. His athleticism has led to me engaging in triathlons, marathons, and Iron Men over the years. When he had fallen from our lives, I tried to take his place. I returned to my old church where he had been and engaged in some of his religious endeavors. I undertook the Christmastime bell ringing for charity that he had championed and made it our own town’s activity.

For me on my personal level, John’s qualities were waypoints to what I think is a life well-prepared and an impetus to making mine a life well-lived and of service to others. John Scott, to me, is a quintessential example of a Portrait of Character.