Admiration

Who do you admire? Let’s begin by inquiring what admiration is.  Admiration is defined as:

1. A feeling of wonder, pleasure, approval.
2. The act of looking on or contemplating with pleasure:
admiration of fine paintings.
3. An object of wonder, pleasure, or approval: The dancer was the admiration of everyone.
4. Archaic. Wonder; Astonishment.

I’m very pleased that the term idol is not associated at all with defining admiration. Although, I do think idols can be admired, I also see many people being admired but treated as idols. I personally don’t have idols, or at least would like to think so. Viewing someone as an idol, to me, is granting too much power and too much influence to another entity that could possibly dominate my reality.
I allow my friends to influence my life and sometimes decisions that I make. I wouldn’t describe them as idols though. I would say that I admire some of them, the number of friends that I admire, I must admit is much less than the number I don’t. Does this create a barrier of categorization? It certainly does. I’m human, I don’t necessarily hold the admired few higher, than those not, but I do hold them in a separate realm.
So why do I admire these few? I don’t think that it’s because of reasons having to do with a standard due to comparison to myself, actually I believe to be quite the opposite. All those who are close to me that I admire, share a common trait. These individuals are all self-driven. What I mean, and please excuse my lack of decent articulation, they all “do their own thing”. Though we all share much, in the past and present, and predictably the future they have all chosen their own path, and discovered their truth for themselves. They are the leaders of themselves.
In present times, what is considered the modern age, virtually the entire planet has been mapped. There is no longer a need for anyone to go out on their own into undiscovered territory. Those who mapped uncharted land were very admirable, brave, and courageous in their actions and intentions. I attribute those same characteristics to those I admire. They have discovered themselves, they haven’t followed someone else’s map. All actions are executed with real intention and a goal in mind, following no one, regardless of the risks involved.
Speaking of action, this is another trait that is obvious when acknowledging those who are admired and those who are not. Those who are not admired take little, and most often no action. Typically they present excuses for a lack of action.
No guts, no glory. Those who have my admiration take action themselves, and with action you take a risk and these fantastic few aren’t afraid of failure. People who are afraid of failure often times have never experienced it. Those who aren’t phased by failure, realize the opposite of failure is success, and you cannot have the latter without the risk. Risk equals reward.
I’ve said for a long time: What you do is important, much of the time however, why you perform these actions holds greater significance.