An aimless journey is a waste of time and other invaluable resources.\nSelecting a destination and
\nplanning the itinerary are the important steps to be taken before embarking on\na journey. Similarly, setting a role model in life makes one aware of the\nhurdles one might face, the ways to overcome them and the stages one must go\nthrough in order to fulfil one\u2019s dreams. Similar to a compass which helps the\nvoyagers to determine the direction in which the ship is sailing, by setting a\nrole model, one can easily determine if one is traversing in the right\ndirection or not, and can also know how far away one is from reaching the desired destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even before we attain the maturity to decide and plan our career by\nseeking inspiration from the people who have made their mark in the chosen\nfield, we set our parents or caretakers or even our teachers as our icons and\nwe grow up emulating them. After being exposed to people from various milieus,\nexperiencing certain incidents and discovering some truths in life, we would\nbegin to focus on character building and personality development. At this\njuncture, it is very crucial to acquire knowledge of the iconic people, their\npersonality, works and ideology. William Lyon Phelps quipped\u2014\u201cHow beautiful\nit is to be able to live inside a mind with attractive and interesting pictures\non the walls.\u201d<\/em> These pictures in the mind are the creative works of our\nimagination, and these are in turn a result of our thoughts. The seeds of such\nbeautiful thoughts are sown in our minds by learning about the iconic people,\nas James Martineau has remarked\u2014\u201cWe forfeit the chief source of dignity and\nsweetness in life if we do not seek to converse with greater minds that have\nleft their vestiges on the world\u201d<\/em>. Like a candle lighting many other\ncandles or a small ray of light driving away the darkness in a room or a flower\nspreading its sweet aroma in the house or a gem shining bright in the dark, the\nrole models we set to ourselves enlighten our lives by sowing the seeds of\nthought that are worth pondering over. The real delight and beauty lie in\nobserving these seeds germinate, bear flowers and fruits, which would spread\nthese seeds furthermore, beginning a virtuous circle of wisdom. The discovery\nof electricity has revolutionised the world, and led to many other discoveries,\nwhich enhanced our way of living. Similarly, one thought can lead to many other\nthoughts that would make the thinker elated, and the people who would receive\nthese thoughts will get equally elated creating a network of beautiful thoughts\nas though it were a necklace of shiny pearls. A real icon is a good thinker who\nthinks and makes others also think the most interesting thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Helen Keller, a renowned author and political activist, had lost her\nsenses of sight and hearing when she was nineteen months old. The impediments\nfaced by either a deaf or a blind person while learning are known to everyone.\nFor a deaf-blind person like Helen Keller, these difficulties get squared, but\nthat did not prevent her from becoming educated. She became the first\ndeaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her words, In \u201cIgnited Minds\u201d, one of the bestsellers authored by APJ Abdul\nKalam (former President of India), the author remarked\u2014\u201cRole models can help\nus focus on what is correct for us as individuals, as groups and, of course, as\na nation. They can also lead us to great success\u201d<\/em>, to illustrate the\nsignificance of role models in our lives. He also cited\u2014\u201cWe seem to have got\ncarried away with the success of a few in the field of information technology.\nBut this is nothing compared to what we can and should achieve.\u201d <\/em>By the\ntime we measure the length of all the three dimensions of the universe to\ncalculate its volume, its volume would have increased, as the universe is\nexpanding continuously. Similarly, by the time we identify all the extant\nspecies in the world, some species would become extinct, and some other new\nspecies would take birth. Also, by the time we find a remedy to an illness, new\ndiseases would emerge or an already combated disease would reemerge with the\ncausal pathogen gaining immunity against the antibiotics which were effective\npreviously. There are many such issues, which keep reminding us that we cannot\nmake a halt in the progress, be it in the case of science and technology or any\nother field. Whatever has been achieved is really nothing compared to what we\ncan and should achieve.\n\nThere are notable people in every field, who, like a compass, point\ntowards the right direction. For example, a ship which will not reach the\ndestination unless the helmsman steers it in the right direction, an aspirant\nwill not reach his goal unless he traverses in the right path. As a ship could\nbe redirected to the correct path after going astray, an aspirant can also get\nback on track after taking a wrong route and learning a lesson. Despite being set in the right path and having the\ncorrect map in the hand, a ship will not reach the actual destination unless it\nhas sufficient fuel in it. Similarly, despite having an icon, an aim and a plan\nto accomplish it, an aspirant will not reach his goal unless he has a strong\nurge in him that can fuel him enough to reach it. Thus, icons are the\nvisionaries, who made significant contributions to the field they have chosen\nand show others the way to succeed in that field. They teach us to believe in\nourselves, present us with a new perspective to see ourselves and the world we\nlive in, inspire us to aim high and achieve more, and enlighten us by sowing\nthe seeds of great thoughts in our minds. Thomas Carlyle wisely quoted, \u201cGreat\nmen taken up in any way are profitable company.\u201d<\/em> Reams of paper would also\nbe insufficient to list out the importance of having an icon in our lives. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An aimless journey is a waste of time and other invaluable resources. Selecting a destination and planning the itinerary are the important steps to be taken before embarking on a journey. Similarly, setting a role model in life makes one aware of the hurdles one might face, the ways to overcome them and the stages […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions\/527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cI thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work,\nand my God\u201d<\/em> demonstrate how she accredits her achievements to her\nhandicaps. Neither losing her sense of vision prevented her from becoming a\nvisionary nor her inability to hear any voice made her voice unheard to the\nothers. Her profound message was heard by her contemporaries and many\ngenerations that came later on, and will be heard by the generations that are\nyet to come.Harold Russell, a sergeant paratrooper in World War II,\nlost his hands in an accident in the training camp and thought that it is the\nend of his life, but, at that time, little did he know that he was going to\nbecome a popular film star and a reputed author. Neither did he nor anyone else\nhad expected that, like a Phoenix, he would rise from the ashes and soar to new\nheights. His message \u201cIt\u2019s not what you have lost, but what you have left\nthat counts\u201d<\/em> was a constant source of inspiration to many people. Helen\nKeller and Harold Russell inspired everyone by making them think that \u201cIf\npeople with such setbacks can achieve success, why can\u2019t I?\u201d, and, like true\nicons, showed the way that will lead us to light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n