I am grateful I have learned the difference between trying to be one of my hero/saints and trying to become a hero/saint myself. I’ll explain since this is perhaps not so clear. via /r/gratitude

From the first time I saw the movie Gandhi in 1984 (I think) I knew the kind of person I wanted to grow up to be. I knew I wanted to be a “saint”. I have spent much of my life chasing that ideal. For years, I tried to emulate the saints I encountered: Gandhi, Jesus, Buddha, and any number of Buddhist and Hindu saints. Again and again, I failed to live up to any one of their lives. Again and again, I found myself hating myself for my weaknesses and failures.

One day, however, I finally awoke to the fact that I can NEVER be Gandhi, Buddha, Anadamaymi Ma, the Dalai Lama, Sri Ramakrishna or anyone else. One cannot photocopy any hero or saint. I realized I must find that sainthood, goodness, compassion, love within myself. I must be truly me. That is the only path to being that which so many of us seek. What purpose is there just to look like a hero or saint for others to admire if you are just a shell of that? What is any of that worth if it’s just a show and inside you are angry, resentful, impatient, bitter or hateful? Real “sainthood” must first be who you are behind the face, the words, the body and the actions. If one can truly achieve these characteristics as a the clear basis of their being it will show in every word and action. Then, furthermore, you will never care what anyone else thinks of you. You won’t care if anyone thinks you are good or bad. Most importantly, you won’t ever seek the goal of “sainthood” or title or reputation because a true saint never acts from selfish and shallow goals.

Now, in my fifties, I can finally get to work for real.