Role models ... huh

There are some people in our lives who we look upon with respect from our childhood. They are our idols, people who we admire a lot. They might not be celebrities or heroes but we still adore them. Somethime we go to the extent of worshipping them. He/she could be your elder brother, your aunt, your friend's dad, or your school teacher. Just a 'well-done' from them could mean a lot to us. There are occasions when we hope to grow up to be something like them. They inspire us. Many times we try to mimic them, may be even pick up a habit or two from them. They impact our values, our character, our behavior, and our thinking.

And then you grow up and now have your own set of values. And suddenly the person who you had adored all the way till now does something wrong. Something that is blatantly wrong to you. You are shell shocked that someone who you have looked up to all your life did something that was totally unacceptable to you. You do not believe it at first but the truth sinks in gradually. Then you think, to err is human and try to overlook the behavior. But what annoys you is that what you think is clearly terribly wrong is not wrong to them. It is not just a matter to different perceptions, but it is a question of values.

You are in a very odd situation where you feel that you should not have adored him/her so much, but then no one is perfect. But still you don't accept such lame excuses. You slowly begin to lose respect for the person. You are not proud of the person anymore. You remeber talking to your friends in high esteem of that person and the ocassions when you had fiercely agued in favor of that person. You realize how foolish you have been. You pity the old you who had done that. You suddenly realize how you are lucky not to have grown up to be the person who you once hoped you would. Sometimes you begin to despise the person. The main fault of the person being that you had adored him/her a lot in the past, and now you cannot handle the fact that the person could compromise his/her values. This might not be anyone's fault, but the relationship you share with the person is never the same again. All the good of the person is erased by the single mistake. It dawns on you that may be the person was better than the lot of others who you came accross but was not really worthy of being adored.