So today I was checking out at Wal-Mart, and making small talk with the cute, little old cashier. During our short moment together I learned she was a retired professor from a small college in Oregon, her children moved her down to Fayetteville to be closer to her grandkids, and she often got bored during the day, so she applied to work at Wal-Mart to pass the time. She went on to tell me how she wanted to work at THIS particular Wal-Mart so she could meet ‘all the kids going to school.’
As my items were bagged and my total was paid, I said goodbye to the cutest old lady I had ever met. I begin to walk away with my bags in tow, when I heard her raise her voice and tell me,
“DON’T FORGET YOU’RE ALWAYS SOMEBODY’S ROLE MODEL”
It felt like an odd thing for someone I hardly knew to say to me, but it also felt empowering.
I chose to tell you all about this story because just like the cute old lady said to me, we are always somebodies role model. Maybe you are the role model for a younger sibling, a friend, a classmate, a teacher, a community, perhaps even a stranger. That is the beauty of the little old lady’s statement—we are role models for some we don’t even know. I hope we all take a note out of the old lady’s handbook and pursue our best selves.
I hope we pursue our best selves for so many reasons. When we are pursuing a better us, we are changing for the better. We are putting our best foot forward. When we put our best foot forward we have the power to impact so many beautiful lives.
LIVES that are struggling.
LIVES that are lost. LIVES that are thriving.
LIVES that are in need of a role model.
So take a chance on a better you because you are always somebody’s role model.