Do you ever stop for a moment to look around and ask yourself, "Who do I want to be like? Who are my role models?" For me, one of the answers to those questions is, "Mama G," a high school teacher in Los Angeles who is pushing 90 with an amazing outlook on life.
It takes only a minute or two with the bundle of energy that is Rose "Mama G" Gilbert to get excited about just about anything.
And to forget that at 88 she's old enough to be the great-grandmother of her Palisades Charter High School students.
"I want them all to just live literature, love poetry and love life — not just get caught up in grades," Gilbert said.
Pupils usually don't start out liking poetry, so Gilbert eases them in with love poems by ee cummings. "It's very sexy," Gilbert said.
For Gilbert, teaching really is a labor of love.
Gilbert doesn't have to work; her husband left her millions when he died. But she loves it too much to quit.
Mama G's energy is infectious, said Masha Elakovic, a 17-year-old senior. "She comes in, she is really pumped up. That is kind of a sign she is ready to teach us and ready to be 'on fire.' ... I love her."
It's easy to get stuck in, "Gee, I wish I could be like her" when we look at people we admire. But the power of role models isn't in aspiring to be someone else, it's in asking yourself, "What would life be like for me if I incorporated more of what I admire into my own life?" And more importantly, "How can I incorporate more of that?"
For me, one of the things that really struck me about Gilbert was her attitude.
...Gilbert underwent heart surgery a decade ago, but it barely slowed her. She recorded lectures and had the substitute teacher play them for the class. Exams and papers were delivered to her each day so she could grade them.
"I'm crazy, OK?" Gilbert said. "That is my attitude. I don't dwell on the negative."
Every morning, Gilbert lifts weights and does yoga. Weekends are filled with UCLA basketball and football games and visiting her grandchildren.
Asked when she will stop teaching, Gilbert pauses.
"When I'm tired," she finally says. "I'm not tired. I have more energy than a kid."
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