Everybody has had someone that helped shape their future directly, whether it was by being there for them day to day or if it was by having said or done something that made them take notice, sometimes even centuries after the fact. Your hero, your idol, your mentor, your voice of reason, your guardian angel - who is/was it and how did they do it?
2006-10-27 16:28:58 · 18 answers · asked by Deus Maxwell 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
The person on the photograph..
http://ishafoundation.org/
He changed the way I look at life.
2006-10-27 16:32:18 · answer #1 · answered by Spiritualseeker 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My great-grandfather who wasn't really my great-grandfather. The 'real' one died...and he is the man my great-grandmother married afterward. He was a chicken farmer when she met him - he was literally her 'egg man'.
He had an 8th grade education - he grew up on a farm in Texas. Had to quit school to help with the farm.
In the Great Depression he had a farm...he let anyone come there and take away anything they could pick and carry away. If they were too weakened with hunger to go pick food, then he fed them first and gave them respite.
He was a very devout Baptist - but he NEVER tried to force his beliefs on anyone else. He was also into 'reflexology' (look it up).
He used to get on his knees every night after working on the farm and rub my great-grandmother's feet. Right before he took a bath, read the Bible for an hour and went to bed.
He NEVER said one bad thing about anyone, ever.
He was quiet - and never self-righteous. He was very gentle, and very humble. He loved a funny story. He was the sweetest person I have ever met in my life, and I have yet to meet someone who was his equal. I think about him all the time, and I try to be like him but I don't think I ever will be. I try, though.
I still wonder at him! 8th grade education, devout Baptist, Sunday school teacher..would literally give the shirt off his back..AND into reflexology at age 80! Died a pauper - nothing to mark that he ever existed, except for.....me. I don't know one other person who thinks of him as I do. I am 40. He died when I was 16. I think of him when I am trying to teach my own children how to treat other people. The memory of him shames me when I am impatient with someone else. He was never impatient - he was constantly, unwaveringly, loving and accepting. A pauper who had a profound impact on my life, and through me, an impact on thousands of other lives. I hope.
2006-10-27 16:45:46 · answer #2 · answered by shannonfstewart 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I've been lucky enough to have five, but I won't bore the community with my life story so I'll pick my wife. She's taught me how to be patient with women (which was really difficult for me in the past), and be unselfish (also a tough one) and open up (the toughest yet). I never had the confidence or belief that I could influence one's life the way you ask in the question, but because of her, I believe that someone will use me as an answer someday.
2006-10-27 16:39:16 · answer #3 · answered by overmars_wu 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have a couple. The first is my great grandmother, she has helped me since her death when I was 15. Since the day she died I have had this feeling of someone looking over me, and everytime I need to make a decision, I get guidance from her, and she has never steered me wrong. (I know it sounds crazy, but it is really happening)
My partner, who makes me want to be a better person, and is the one person I can count on when things just seem to hard. Not only that but he makes the good times that much better, because I have someone special to share it all with.
My children I think have had the greatest impact because they made me realise things about myself I would never have known otherwise.
My mother for the abuse she gave me as a child, because that made me who I am today. A strong person, who is not only strong enough to go through abuse, but someone who has the strength to relive it with therapy, and learn to put it behind me.
2006-10-27 18:03:12 · answer #4 · answered by chelles_insanity 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My grandfather. He once told me that no matter what I did in life he would always be with me no matter what if only I would follow my heart. Of course I believed him being the six year old I was when he told me that. What I didnt know then was that he was dying. After my grandfather told me that, he died peacefully about 3 months later. Today if you would have told me that I would not have believed you. But the way he said it made me believe him. To this day I still think about what he said every single day of my life. I miss him so much, because he taught me so much wisdom. When people go through life thinking "No one cares about me. I dont have nobody watching over me." That Hilary Duff song off of 'Raise Your Voice' called Someone Watching Over Me, is a touching song. When I first heard it, I was by myself in my house and I started to cry. Because the first person I thought of was my grandfather. Because my grandfather is my guardian angel. He is that someone watching over me.
2006-10-27 17:16:26 · answer #5 · answered by Misguided Rose 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
That requires a long story --it was a soul-saving experience. The basics are covered in the urban coyote course -- press coverage at : www.mapsgroup.org/urban_coyotes.htm
Most mentors or guardian angels are ersatz. I luckily got the real thing, a hero who led me through catharsis. Contact me if you're interested in my own case history.
2006-10-27 16:35:03 · answer #6 · answered by urbancoyote 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My mother. It may sound stupid, but she is. We have been through alot anything from an abusive boyfriend, to losing everything we owned in a house fire, and she was always there and always strong for me and my brother. My mom has protected me from things that I wouldn't have been able to handle and she has been strong when we had nothing but the clothes on our back. For that, I am more grateful than any person on this earth, and I don't know what I am going to do when she isn't here by my side anymore.
2006-10-27 16:45:01 · answer #7 · answered by Brittany W 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My sister had the greatest impact on my life. She was one of the strongest people I have ever known. She taught me how to face anything with grace anad dignity, She died almost five years ago with cancer at the age of 37. During that time her courage and strength was completly remarkable. I Hope that if I were faced with what she faced I could have as much grace and character as she did.
2006-10-27 16:44:18 · answer #8 · answered by regina g 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My best friend has had the greatest impact on my life.
He wasn't a hero or an idol, he just introduced me to music.
He opened a box that could not and should not be shut.
2006-10-27 17:41:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wow. Do I really have to choose ONE? Daunting task, where to begin? I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with a list.
First, my Dad for obvious reasons. Next would be my uncle, Dad's brother.
After that I would have to say the instructors I had in college. I think their guidance was the finishing touch that has gotten me to where I am today.
2006-10-27 19:23:28 · answer #10 · answered by Lonnie P 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
of course my parents have most of the credit
but a teacher i had such a long time ago has helped shaped my life
she made me realize that there's more to me than we everyone sees and that part of life is about meeting expectations to make something out of yourself
once i realized that, i did everything to impress her, in every possible way
and in doing that, i realized that i was capable of so much and i realized the kind of person i was and who i wanted to be
2006-10-27 16:35:58 · answer #11 · answered by Corpse Bride 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋