Lucas is a happy, healthy three-year old boy. He loves cars and trucks, he gets dirty and he is downright petrified of the wind. He also happens to be a parrot. Everything he hears is digested and regurgitated enough to embarrass me when the moment is not right. Every parent I know, knows this moment.
At my father's house a couple of weeks ago Lucas' car garage legs fell off and the upper level collapsed into the lower. Without missing a beat, he turns to my dad and says, "Piece of crap Papa." I laughed of course, but couldn't help thinking about what other "isms" he might be picking up from me. It's a marvel to me still that children emulate their parents in order to learn. Horrifying! What have I been teaching my son?
I have always prided myself in the fact that I am the person that people come talk to. I seem to be that person that people want advice from (take it or leave it motto applicable here of course), I also like knowing that I set an example for some and inspire them. It is only in those "piece of crap moments" that I wonder if I'm truly up to par. I also wonder how many of us even know when we are setting an example to those around us.
Like most people I talk to, many of my role models are traditional. My fifth grade teacher that foresaw me working with my beloved Disney characters in Disney Land, co-workers that became confidants and friends even, my parents who always told me I was too hard on myself, but some of my biggest influences have been people I don't even know. A name I heard on campus of a man or woman who is doing something great, or a stranger on the street who holds the door for me, the man on the beach collecting trash.
"Character is what you do when nobody else is looking," someone once said. I can only hope that part of me is someone still willing and able to mold.
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