This place. This one, right here. MetaChat is such a fantastic and wonderful place. Thank you! →[More:]

When I was a kid, there were some questions I just couldn't answer. I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. Ok, so no one does, even today. I could also never give an answer when people asked me who my heroes were. I didn't really have any. I mean, I loved G.I. Joe and Voltron and the Transformers (and even the Rock Lords). I thought David Bowie and Michael Jackson were two of the coolest cats ever, and tres stylish (don't laugh!) but I was smart enough as a kid to know that I didn't want to be any of the above when I grew up. I just didn't have any aspiration figures. The closest I came to looking up to anyone was my dad, though we were so inseparable I thought of him more as a buddy. Plus he had all these habits (drinking and smoking, especially) that I wanted no part of. And then he left.

As I got older, things got worse on the hero front, but I was a teenage rebel so I didn't need nobody telling me or showing me how to act. So it wasn't really worse in my mind. Besides, I'd been the rebel since pre-school. Whenever we played House or family or whatever, I was Ash: the cool older cousin with no visible parents, responsibilities, or cares. Those of you who've seen my kiddie pics know it must've been just the most adorable thing in a four year old. Stop giggling and hush up. I'm going somewhere with this, I promise. I went through all the cultural indoctrination and phases you do growing up; sports, comics, video games, sci-fi/fantasy. I read up on MLK and Gandhi; those were two dudes I could really get behind. But I always viewed them in a historical context. I just never got the hang of the "h" word.

Which brings us to the present. I've finally matured enough to understand heroes aren't perfect. And I've gotten over myself enough to take lessons from others, rather than banging my head up against every single wall I come across. And I found something, something that was there all the time but needed nuturing. And that's wisdom.

Wisdom has given me the ability to isolate heroic qualities in people; things I'd like to emulate, aspire to. Ways I'd like to make the people around me feel. People who bring joy, laughter, and serenity wherever they go. I can finally start to list my heroes in my head. It's still a short list right now, but it's growing. And you know what? More than half of them are right here on MetaChat.

I thank you.