MY ROLE MODEL: MY FATHER

Right from when a human is born, the state of the mind or brain is like a clean slate. In order to acquire the necessary things to be able to grow and survive as time goes on, one needs to learn either directly or indirectly from another person. Most times, basically, that person is the mother. You know, the kind of mother-baby relationship.

However, after basic entities of life have been gotten, there is still a large chunk of others that needs a deeper understanding than knowing how to walk like a baby. At a time like this, there needs to be what or who you look up to as a yardstick to a niche your effort is streamlined. Such a person is referred to as a role model.

As the name implies, a role model is basically someone you want to take after in terms of their ‘role’ in a precise niche which is usually where you also look or find yourself. In other words, a role model is one who has gone before you in the face of life you are currently in or look forward to. And you intend to study and apply most, if not all, of his or her principles to your present stands.

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Honestly, right before this time of coming across this topic, I do not think I have thought about who my role model was or is. I guess that may imply I have none. But thinking deeply about how far I have come which I appreciate, there are lots of people who have influenced me in one way or the other. However, looking back to how I started, I will definitely go for my father as my role model. I know you must have been thinking of me mentioning one big name, yes, my ‘FATHER’ is bigger on this one. Although, I believe in the notion that one can't really have one role model because this life as we see it is a vast one, hence we may be needing more than one in diverse capacities.

Growing up, as you may have seen me write in some of my previous posts, my father was basically my first teacher. Apart from the fact that he teaches academics only at home, he is one of the few men I know who are vast in different things. I have a testimony of a colleague at his workplace - an engineering firm - telling me that my father was (and is not) sound in just his career path alone but also in other topics of life. These include politics, societal values, history, etc. (Nigerian) history is one real deal for me! I must confess, he actually instilled in me my first love for history which has grown over the years. This is because of one thing, he knows how to relate a story, so captivating and he does not tell one that he is not sure about. He will definitely tell you he wasn’t too sure about a part of what he had read and I bet you by a later day, he would have most likely gotten a hold of it.

Besides the great teaching and historical prowess I accord to my father, he is one great advisor. There is never a time I or other people ask for his opinion on a particular thing, he definitely has something to say about it. In a way, he does not allow for lazy advice. Most times, he thoroughly analyzes probably both sides of the coin of an issue and leaves you to decide on your own. But definitely from his analyses, you’d have gotten the message.

Like I said earlier, some would have thought I may have mentioned someone like Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara, or Elon. Actually, in a way, I have them on different pedestals as a mini-role model in nationalism and tech respectively. Some others are into politics, business, etc. Do you know why my father tops the chart? He definitely led me to know these people or better still, he led me on a path such that I will be able to take chances and know the people that are truly relevant in their own way. Some others may not be popular but I watch them closely and duly learn from them.

All in all, in as much as we have people we look up to and learn from both dead or alive, we must always strive to make use of the lessons we have learned and most importantly do our things in a better way because we most likely will be someone’s role model in the nearest future. You know, as Infinix says, the future is now!