From T Joseph Benziger, the Editor, Dynamic Youth

Dear Youth of the World,
All living beings are dominated by two senses. The first is the sense of ‘self’. And, the second is the sense of ‘others’ or ‘outside world’. My self includes what I am as a person, i.e. my body, my mind and so on. Whatever contributes to my personality is part of my ‘self’. All the rest I see in the world are ‘others’ and are part of the outside world.
The term ‘Life’ has resisted clear definition. But we know that life expresses itself through interaction of ‘self’ with the outside world. My ceasing to live is marked by my ceasing to interact with others or with outside world.
Such interactions have been observed at physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual levels, i.e. at all levels of one’s personality. The physical interaction includes respiration, intake and digestion of food, and sex. Similarly, my mental interaction includes my emotional exchanges, thought processes etc. Thus interactions at all levels of a living being are not proofs of only existence; they prove also meaningful living and evolution.
We cannot simply think of a living being, without ability to interact; leave alone its evolutionary progress. As such, if we want to live meaningfully and develop, we should regulate our interactions properly.
The subject of ‘interaction’ is vast and I do not intend dealing with it exhaustively here. I shall limit my discussion with an important aspect of it.
All of us, especially in young age, become impressed with somebody’s speech, style, strength, power, ability etc. We are influenced by them and accept him or her as our role model. We try to follow them. We draw from the outside world, a select pattern of behavior or conduct or even a line of thinking and absorb it; and internalize it. This is called inspiration.
It need not necessarily be a real living person. Sometimes we accept the historic personalities as great persons and try to follow their principles and behavior. It can also be an imaginary character seen in a cinema or television serial. If the person is weak minded or ignorant, he gets influenced by wrong personalities, either real or depicted.
We inhale lungful of air from outside, use it, and exhale it; similarly, we take to our minds what we observe in some others and imbibe it; and make it a permanent part of our own personality. When we face challenging life situations, we ask ourselves how that other person would behave; and we choose to behave like that as far as possible. The importance of such inspiration lies in that it does not simply affect one’s behavior at a point of time; it molds one’s attitude and makes him to behave in a particular way throughout the life!
We understand easily the need for inhaling pure air or eating nutritious food. But the need for becoming inspired by the right person for the right reason is not appreciated that easily.
All of us should examine ourselves and find out who are those, whom we are allowing to influence our personalities. We should also ask if those influences are really good or bad.
There are no rigid rules on how we should go about finding a person to influence us. But there are some fundamental principles in this. For example, can a Physics professor have a famous foot ball player as his role model? Why not? He can emulate the foot ball player in his team spirit or perseverance or concentration towards attaining his goal. Life is qualitative and multifaceted. So, we may draw inspiration from any person belonging to any field. It should be for a right reason and relevant to our goals in life.
Suppose there is a black marketer or criminal in my neighborhood, who is very rich and lives luxuriously. If I become impressed by his ostentatious life style and draw inspiration from him, I would soon find myself in criminal path. Especially in young age, anything clamorous or glamorous would easily appeal. So the youth should be intelligent and selective in becoming inspired by others.
Mahatma Gandhiji, while he was young, was inspired by the legendary character Harichandra, noted for his adherence to Truth. It helped him to become a Mahatma. While Shivaji was a child, his mother used to tell him the stories of great heroes of the ancient Bharat. This inspiration made him a great warrior.
There are many great people around us. They may be close to us in our family or official circles, or may be famous and distant. We should observe and study the people, not only those with whom we move personally but also those about whom we hear or read. We should try to become inspired by their good qualities. Not becoming inspired by the wrong people is also equally important.
Wishing you all the best,
T Joseph Benziger