Are role models really important?

I think so.

I've always been the kind of person to look up to certain people and to model the way I live my life after them. For example: my parents, MLK, Malcolm X, Gandhi, Obama, etc.

But yesterday, I watched an interview with Lil' Wayne and Katie Couric (which can be seen on YouTube, of course: part 1 and part 2), and I'm rethinking the whole purpose of role models.

When asking Lil' Wayne about his two children, Katie Couric posed this question: "Did you ever think, am I a good role model? You know, am I a good example for people on how to live their lives?" Wayne responded:

"I'm not an example for people on how to live their lives. And never in my life would I ever set out to be an example for people on how to live their lives. If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn't have been born."

Now, I'm not the kind of person to just accept or dismiss what someone has to say without thinking it through all the way. So when I heard Wayne answer that question, I immediately started thinking deeply about what he was saying.

And I agree with him... to an extent.

Personally, I know that I wouldn't be anywhere close to the person that I am today without the guidance of my parents. Their love, their care, and their patience have helped me extremely. But the example that they both set for me... I can't even put my appreciation for it into words.

This isn't to say that I always get along with my parents, because that's definitely not the case. I'm a 20-year-old college student, still coming into my own and learning how to make my own decisions. Obviously, we're going to disagree on a few things. But I still respect them greatly for being the upstanding people that they are, and the impact that they have had/are still having on my life is immeasurable.

With that said, however, I don't want to be my mom or my dad when I get older. I want to be me.

Trust me, I don't mean any disrespect towards them at all by that statement. But it would be foolish, in my opinion, to try to be an exact replica of anyone else. I'm an individual, and I have to act like an individual. Not to say that there aren't certain character traits in other people that I wan't to make a part of my own character. But to be just like anyone else is pointless.

And I think that's the point that Wayne was trying to get across in that interview. If you're trying to be just like somebody else, then you're not living a good life. You have to be yourself.

Following his statement that I quoted earlier, Wayne said:

"I am a great role model because I'm only a role model for two. And that's all. So why don't you worry about yours, and let them worry about theirs. I got mine."

In Wayne's opinion, he only needs to be a role model for his own two (soon to be four) children. But his children will have to realize that he's just that: a role model. Someone for them to model their lives after. Not duplicate.

The only question is, how good of a role model will Lil' Wayne be for his children? But I guess that's really not my concern. I'll worry about mine, and everyone else can worry about theirs.

Wayne's got his.