목요일 2026년1월8일	-	Role Models

Meditations 1.9

	From Sextus: Kindness...attentiveness to friends
	...unfeigned grace...tolerance to those whose opinions
	are not guided by philosophy...accommodating to everyone
	...simultaneously impassive and yet affectionate...
	offering praise without making a song and dance of it
	...and wearing one's learning lightly.

The first book of Meditations is Marcus recognizing and thanking those
modelled what is good for him as he grew into the man he would become. It
also presses home the importance of having good role models, people to
look up to and strive to emulate.

Sextus was a particularly sagacious example for Marcus, and the praise he
heaps upon his name is high. I do not think I have really had that many
people I can look up to and admire in the areas I would like to make
progress in, namely in being a man of virtue, equanimity, and simplicity.
And, sadly, I don't think I have been all that good for my children to
learn from either.

But what I can do, is make what progress I can with what time I have
left, and hopefully be that person in at least some small degree so that
the next person has a bit more of a foundation to build upon.

* This was a bit of an unusual entry, given that there has already been one
today, but I felt impressed by Marcus' entry and felt that it deserved
some additional attention.