Ginko, from Mushishi
Ginko from the 2005 Anime (and Urushibara Yuki's Manga) Mushishi is my role model. He's calm and level headed, has an appreciation for all living things and is driven by his curiosity about the natural world. I am restless, impulsive, and all over the place most of the time. I want to be more like Ginko, and live with intention and measure. I dedicate this page to Ginko, and how one can learn about life from this character.
The story of Mushishi (can be loosely translated as "master of bugs") focuses on the interaction between "mushi" and humans. Mushi are mysterious creatures closer to the origin of life itself than any other. They appear similar to various animals, plants, unicellular organisms and even weather phenomena. Mushi often negatively affect the humans in the series. Much like a jellyfish has no say in wether it stings what is around it, mushi are devoid of any moral aspect. They are simply an extant part of life, neither malicious nor benevolent. Only few people can percieve them, and the protagonist Ginko is one of them. His profession (the one of the mushishi), is to heal people form ailments caused by mushi. Ginko has a deep understanding of their moral neutrality, and tries to spare them when possible. He also possesses a profound scientific curiosity, which leads him to study the mushi, and further his knowledge about the balance of nature.
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On the nature of role models
During most of my childhood and adolescence I found the concept of a "role model" to be quite ridiculous. How could you choose some famous person that you didn't know anything about, and decide you wanted to be just like them? Especially when it came to celebrities, billionaires, or historical figures that lived in a constest so deeply different from ours. What did that mean about those people? Did they want riches and power and charisma, and thought that by trying to imitate people who had achieved that, they would themselves rise up to be just like them?
I found less baffling when people took scientists or artists as role models. It meant people were trying to follow their passsions and understand more about world. At that point though, I got confused again, because aren't the intricacies of nature and its beauty, and past art, not way more convincing sources of inspiration rather than people that were just vehicles for them to become known to humanity?
It turns out, i am a FOOL. I just happen to value and lack different things than most of the general population i interacted with. I do not desire fame or recognition, but peace in the chaos that is my life, and my brain. I do not worry about lacking intelligence or interpersonal skills. I just want to be less swayed by my emotions, while maintaining my extant passion for knowledge. I do not feel like judging other people's role models, since mine is a literal anime character. Nonetheless, i see many of his traits in the people around me, he is not exceptional or unrealistic, and just happen to carry all those traits i desrire to embody in one single, neat, package.