We each meet or encounter in some way persons who are so special that we instantly know we are in the presence of, or in the ripples reaching out from, someone who embodies our highest ideals. With me it has nothing to do with looks, or wealth, or titles, or status. It has a lot to do with giving, and caring, and doing so with grace, and elegance, and courage. What is more, we can sense that those who possess these traits are not at all driven by any kind of honor or reward; instead they all seem to have their own inner compass that guides them. They also do not engage in dreary acts that drag us down such as bombast, or self-praise, while they are not judgmental of those who are driven to do so. I have not been keeping score about anyone, but on reflection, and after having passed the “hump” of the age curve when life hands out its termination notices, I offer this narrative in humble admiration to those who have climbed those three simple steps and who lived lives that outshone the great majority of the rest of humanity.

A few names from the distant past quickly come to mind. I am certain that I would have felt those ripples of grace emanating from Socrates who was the epitome of what teaching and the pursuit of knowledge are all about. Some 2400 years after his death, and by word of mouth alone, he is honored today by all who value knowledge and worthy goals. He lived an austere life in the streets of Athens while teaching those who would listen to tales about life, and purpose, and honor. Some would say that he committed suicide by drinking hemlock rather than face his accusers in a trial that was concocted just to discredit him. But to me he appears to have chosen death over dishonor, the examined life over the debased life, and the good that we can do over the worst that we can suffer. His legacy affirms the wisdom and the honor of his choice. He taught us to seek knowledge because “the unexamined life is not worth living”; while the answers to most of life’s issues lie within us if only we dare to question and challenge our facts, our logic, and our goals. Every teacher at all levels of learning today would do well to memorize and project the Socratic Method.

Few of us are ever challenged to choose between living in dishonor or dying with dignity. It is such a defining moment that we have only those two choices. In the 15th century a young woman emerged who history would honor as a lasting example to the virtue of courage. We know her as Joan of Arc. She was an uneducated peasant who came from an obscure village and rose to prominence when she was a teenager. She was grounded in a religious tradition that believed anyone from any level of society might receive a divine calling. She lived her calling, and rallied men from foot soldiers to battlefield commanders to her side, winning victory after victory for France by following her leadership. Today she has battleships and statues raised in her honor as well as a French holiday named for her.

Joan of Arc was so feared in battle and in life that men at all levels of society, under various banners of pomp and circumstance, sought to silence her and to expunge her existence from the hearts and minds of humanity—and all because she was a woman who exuded courage. Although she was burned at the stake at the age of 19 on a variety of trumped up charges, her captors failed to diminish her life or her courage at any level of examination. Today she is honored as a saint by her church, as a fierce warrior in the pursuit of justice, and as a profile in courage for women and men everywhere to emulate. I have neither read nor heard of any other person—of either gender—who accomplished half as much while still a teenager.

I found my personal role model via books and other publications and when he appeared on television. He was just a few years older than me, but he was well past my position on life’s learning curve. Without knowing it, he helped to nudge me along and to accelerate my slow trek on that curve. Great teachers are like that. His name was Carl Sagan. I marveled at his humility, at his keen sense of humor, at his humanity, and at his brilliant mind. I never once detected a trace of selfishness in his abilities or his achievements. I have gone back to his PBS series “Cosmos,” and relived those episodes with him. I never tire of watching “Contact,” a movie based on his writings about the wonders of science, and not incidentally, with a very creative plot. I own a couple of his books, yet I am neither a collector nor an avid reader of anything. His speaking and writing skills surpassed those of the great majority of professional speakers and writers of his time. When Neil deGrasse Tyson was but 17 years of age, Sagan saw Tyson’s potential in the discipline of astronomy. He gave young Tyson, an applicant for Freshman admission, a personal tour of the facilities at Cornell University where he was the head of the astronomy department. Tyson, who has long since blossomed into a world-class astro-physicist, speaks of Carl Sagan to this day with a quiet reverence. Readers are invited to watch and listen to Carl Sagan as he describes planet Earth as our pale blue dot in the most moving words this writer has ever heard spoken.

These three persons from the distant past to the near present are my choices for the honor of role models for humanity. Yours are almost certainly different from mine. But this is not a challenge to find a new popularity index for anyone. Go with your own. Role models are personal choices.  Still, in this age of propaganda, where snake oil salesmen are omnipresent, and bluster jabs us at every turn, it’s good to remind ourselves of those few who moved us by example and who truly made a difference in our lives.