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You've named some celebrities famous for their good works, like Lady Diana. Have you found practical ways to integrate their examples into your life? - for instance through voluntary work or signing petitions. How do they affect you? I think when we are active for causes we believe in it helps to counteract the depression we feel at the terrible things going on in the world.
Are you aware of the Ronald McDonald Houses hartfire? They are homes built to house families of ill children and are usually in close proximity to or adjacent to a Children's Hospital. Very often the children whose families stay there suffer from cancer. Very often the families cannot afford to pay for lodging while their children are in the hospital. The Ronald McDonald House does not charge for housing families who can't afford it. Those who can pay what they can afford or stay at local motels/hotels. There are rooms with beds and bathrooms for the families. There is a common kitchen with food provided where families can fix their meals. All at NO CHARGE. Fundraisers are always happening somewhere to fund the homes. Business regularly donate a great many things including food and cookware and linens. You name it and someone donates it. The McDonald's franchisees help fund the homes. I worked for a company (husband and wife) who owned 7 McDonald's restaurants at that time. I was the in-house accountant. The couple were instrumental in getting the Loma Linda, California Ronald McDonald House built. The Loma Linda Hospital that has a children's hospital contained therein DONATED the land across the street for the Ronald McDonald House. Value of that donation was a million dollars. The couple donated staff time during all phases of the construction. There were 3 of us in the office plus a part-timer who did filing. At least 25% of our office time was devoted to the Ronald McDonald House for over two years. We planned fundraisers and got volunteers to come to the office and work in our large conference room stuffing envelopes to send out to the thousands and thousands of people on our mailing lists which we created by soliciting mailing lists from all business and personal contacts. It was a very time-consuming job. Then we would show up with our relatives and other friends whom we asked to volunteer to help run the fundraisers. Some involved race cars at a local veteran's hospital whose grounds made a perfect race course and also in the downtown area of Riverside which was blocked off and filled with rubber tires placed on the sidelines in case of crashes.. There w was a footrace once around Christmas and all volunteers were provided with Santa Clause hats. We stood along the race course to guide the racers through it. We showed up at 5:30am and got our 
hats and the locations we had been assigned to. Imagine an entire town with many dozens of volunteers wearing Santa Claus hats. It was a very festive fundraiser. People picked a runner and pledged so much money per mile. Children's charities are what I am most interested in. Volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House is THE charity that many folks are interested in which is why they are so successful. Of course volunteering at Old Folk's Homes or homeless shelters or food kitchens is worthwhile as well but I think we are drawn to certain causes more than others for whatever reason. Mine is the Ronald McDonald House. Thank you for your reply hartfire. Did I answer your question?
My heroes and role models are the ones who best exemplify my ideals.
I can never be like them, but I can do my best to incorporate their ways of thinking and behaving into the way I live.
Do you have any heroes/role models Nj? I always admired Audrey Hepburn for her grace and demeanor and the fact that she spent time and her celebrity helping people. Same reason I admired Princess Diana and the same reason I admire Angelina Jolie. People who give of themselves and bring attention to the suffering of others are great examples of the best in people. It isn't just giving huge sums of money to charity. You can take them as tax writeoffs. It's getting down in the trenches where the people are and working side by side with them to help improve their lives. Arthur Ashe was a wonderful tennis player. A fine human being. A great example of courage and kindness and caring. I think there may be many wealthy sports figures who do wonderful things for others but we just don't know about it. They avoid publicity.
Thank you for your reply! :)
I think some celebrities just naturally attract attention. I think teaching is the noblest profession Nj. But certainly first responders and nurses are special people. No doubt about it. I adore Richard Attenborough (sp?). I'm not sure of the spelling Nj. Elegant/classy. Why are so many folks who gain celebrity so dam* POMPOUS? I think modesty and being humble is a very attractive quality. Don't you? The egomaniacs and condescending blowhards are not my cuppa tea. I don't give a dam* how wealthy they are or powerful or successful or famous. They just do not meet my standards for being a
good human being. I like quiet, refined, dedicated, intelligent, caring people. So shoot me! Thank you for your reply Nj. Gee it's so nice chatting with you! :)
Do you have some whose names you can share with us hartfire? Thank you for your reply! :)
Idries Shah - learning how to learn. Gautama Sakyamuni, Joseph Goldstein on vipassana & insight meditation, Sayadaw U Janaka, teacher of vipassana meditation, Eve Gzybrowski yogi & yoga teacher. Peter Singer on ethics. John Stuart Mills and John Anderson on Liberty and Libertarianism. Sartre on Existentialism. Aung San Suu Kyi and Mandela on freedom, democracy & Noble Prize for Peace. Jane Goodall on saving endangered species. Peter Costello for assistance to third world peoples. Eddie Mabo for Aboriginal Land Rights and Self-Determination. Steven Hawking on the Unified Field Theory and a Brief History of Time. Marshall B Rosenberg on Non-Violent Communication. Eduard De Bono and Arthur Koestler on creativity and thinking. Tom Jugtenberg and Bob Brown on policy direction for the Greens. David Suzuki and Guy McPherson on global warming. Simone de Beauvoir on feminism and old age. Alice Miller, Jean Jensen, Jacqueline Small, Patricia Evans, Melody Beattie, Harville Hendrix, M Scott Peck and many others on personal development and relationship skills.
literature - huge range - current favourite writers - Orianna Falluchi, Naguib Mafouz, Natalie Goldberg, Barbarra Turner-Vasselego, John Barth, Jaques Barzun, Salman Rushdie, Patrick White, Christina Stead, Dickens, DH Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Mann ... plus various favourites on the topics of learning how to write.
poetry - Hafiz, Rumi, Kahlil Gibran, Omar Kayam, Rabindranath Tagore, Vyasa, Robert Frost, Basho, Robert Graves ...
Many more. My world is full of heros and models.
with me its knowing i never can
I never liked Aniston that much. I always thought she was quite average/ordinary and still do. When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got together Jennifer got so much sympathy and Angelina was vilified. Look what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have done with their lives in terms of giving back, getting involved in charities, doing things for others? They have 6 kids, 3 of whom they adopted from other countries. I read that Aniston had been a fat child and didn't want to have to children because she didn't want to get fat again. I don't know if that's true but I believe she is now 45, thin and childless. I think Brad would have preferred having kids to having a skinny wife. Getting pregnant twice, once with twins, didn't seem to hurt Angie's figure. I think Jennifer is a superficial typical celebrity and I don't blame Brad for preferring Angelina. There! I said it out loud and I expect some folks won't like that. But I'm talk
ing to you my friend and I know you will understand! Thank you for your thoughtful reply Nj and Happy Sunday! :) ((hugs))
Hi pearl! How are you? I've missed seeing you on answermug. Hope everything is okay. I agree with you. I think when you have role models it's because you admire the people and aspire to be like them. That's enough for me. What's hard though is when you have admired someone a lot and find out they aren't very nice. That's always 
disappointing. Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday! :)
Wow. A very highbrow list my friend. I mean that respectfully. You do live on a higher plane than most people including me. I admire you a great deal and I'm happy that you find enough in me to interest you but I could never carry on a conversation with you about most of those people you named because I have never heard of many of them. I think it is a good thing to admire people with character and talent and integrity and aspire to be like them . We have the capacity to grow and expand and become more than we were but we have to be interested in doing so because it takes time and effort and hard work
. Thank you for taking the time to list some of your heroes and role models. I appreciate it hartfire! Happy Sunday! :)
