Admiration versus Aspiration

I’ve been thinking a lot about admiration and aspiration these days. I am a person who cannot admire without also aspiring to become what I admire. I am not content to simply admire most traits – I want them for myself. I suppose this is a sort of covetousness, but I don’t mean it in a material sense. If someone possesses a trait that I admire, I feel compelled to try to attain to it myself. It seems, when pondering this issue, that there are no traits that I admire that I do not desire to have myself….I can’t think of a quality that I admire that I don’t want to possess. For example, if I see someone who is known for their thoughtfulness, it inspires me to try and be more thoughtful. I have to actively pursue thoughfulness. I am convinced that many excellent character traits are habits that people have formed through discipline. Character is a victory, not a gift. Have you ever met someone who has the capacity for admiration but not for aspiration? Someone who can admire a particular quality in a friend, but then excuses himself from having to ever aspire to it by saying, “I could never be like that…” How many people sell themselves short of their potential by never making the step from admiration to aspiration? Is it too much work? Do they simply lack the drive, the discipline? Why have they been taught to settle for mediocrity? It breaks my heart to hear someone speak such defeated words about themselves, especially when it shows a lifetime of self-esteem issues…You see the phrase “Come as you are” on so many church bulletin boards…yes, come as you are, but then change! Don’t stay the way you were – we all need to grow! Aspire! Our society is obsessed with insisting that people be loved for who they are…and this is a good thing. However, the person who refuses to change on the basis that he ought to be loved for who he is will find himself left whining in the dust while others have moved beyond.  Don’t be content to simply admire. That’s too easy. Anyone can do that. Add some aspiration into the mix!

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