My Role Model

Role models seem to be in short supply these days. Celebrities that we thought were wholesome, good people suddenly have skeletons in their closets and are not necessarily good examples for our kids. Sadly this even happens on the local level, everyday it seems coaches, civic leaders or others who have disappointed us time and time again. Who are our kids to look up to?

Let me tell you about my role model. He has spent his whole life serving others, I do not think he has ever put himself first. My role model works with his hands and his heart. He cares deeply about the world we live in and spends everyday working hard to leave it in better shape than he found it. His bed-rock is his faith in God and each day he is an example of how a Godly man lives.

He is part of the very land he lives on. He nurtures the animals and crops in his care and they in-turn produce the food and fiber that feeds all of us. My role model cares for the land, keeps the water clean and the air fresh, he is the best environmentalist I know and the most genuine.

You will never find anyone who works longer or harder. He does not do his job to become rich but out of a sense of duty, pride in his work and a love for the people he feeds. His mind is sharp, his hands calloused and his heart is warm, a greater role model you could not imagine.

I have had the honor and the privilege of knowing this man for 39 years and calling him Dad. He is an incredible role model and I have spent my entire life emulating him. I think he is special, but he is like many of his fellow farmers and ranchers, good, God-fearing, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth men and women. Seems to me, they would be much better role models than the celebrities that society often puts up on a pedestal.