Anyone can be a great coach and role model in so many ways and situations. Just thinking of having a role in leading others’ routes in life makes it very easy to find settings where this is made possible. This, of course, should be done without enforcement of an opinion or way of implementation. Many examples are found in our lives. A parent or elder sibling is clearly one that can and, in my opinion, has to coach the younger to know their way and to plan their lives. Coaching not always goes from the older to the younger, it can often go the other way round. It depends on the situation and the manner the info is offered.
A role model is an implicit coach. You can do a lot of teaching by just believing and implementing what you believe in. I fact, doing what you want others to do is far more effective than just saying it or telling them to do it. This is very clear when parents tell their children not to lie and then lie in front of their very eyes!! This of course makes parents lose their credibility and respect. Hence, they fail to make their children do anything they want in the future. Teachers are not only parents, but people in every arena, doing every job, everywhere, and anytime….
Reaching out for people who might need your help through asking about their news and if they need anything is one of the ways to find a coaching role to play. The more a person reaches out for people to help them, the more the virtuous circle comes around and this person finds help from unimagined sources. This is guaranteed!!
Sometimes, people think that the person who always offers help is showing off their talents or network of useful people. This is a possibility that should not refrain people from their role if they are real role models or coaches. Some other people are intimidated by always being helped. This should not be the case because when someone is an ever-receiver of help from a person X, they might be an ever-giver of help to person Y. As long as the person does not intend to take from everyone with no return to anyone, there should be no problem in this concern. It is like a treasure that you gain from people and then, in turn, distribute to others. If the person’s channel to give stops performing, his channel of receiving will eventually stop, too. This is the rule of life: “What goes around comes around”.
Other examples that I found in my life are the following:
1) In a traffic light, a street boy stood by the car window of a lady to sell her some handkerchiefs. The lady opened the window and smiled to the boy telling him some good words like “thank you” or so. She had such an angelic face and smile in refusing to give him money but she treated him as a human being. This can one day make him feel as one and hence feel that it is improper to beg in such an inhuman way.
2) In public transportation, two young ladies were eating peanuts and seeds (لب) and throwing the peels from the window. A school student going back from school saw them. She opened a notebook, tore a sheet of paper, made a cone out of it and gave it to the two ladies (again with a smile) to use it as a temporary bin until they go down and find one where they can throw the cone to keep the place clean. The two ladies took it, ashamed of what they were doing and thanked the girl.
3) A friend that can help anyone in looking for a job, reaching a contact person that can help in a study or so, telling informative stories or summarizing a book that can help someone in doing something or solving a problem are all examples of coaches and role models.
4) In an academic field, offering someone a reference or a topic that might be interesting to the researcher and helping him out through his study is another example.
5) Putting in mind to offer continuous help to others can make you one day hear the following sentence (which I already heard being said to someone): “You’re a role model to me and I hope that my children grow up to be just like you”. This shows how you can affect others’ lives. Even if people don’t say it in words, you can feel it and feel that you have done a great favor that is being appreciated.
6) Being an educator is an excellent arena where you can coach students. It is very easy to find a place where they are, unfortunately saying, “forced” to stay with you to listen to a certain scientific material or lesson that they are going to be examined in. But the relationship should not stop at this point.
Trying to find some common grounds between the educator and the students makes a sort of reconciliation and merge between the two parties. This is not easily done, I confess, but it has already worked with me many times. It is more like two hard metals starting to form an alloy. These common grounds are, definitely, not the hard science that is being taught. It is the social aspects in the students’ lives, their daily life concerns, their fears, their dreams,…etc. Showing empathy is one of the magical sticks a teacher (or any person) can use to gain the students’ attention. Being a good and sincere role model in showing respect and good treatment to everyone in every action is another magical stick. Many many other situations are there where you can share with us on this page.
The most evident benefit that is obtained from helping people is feeling the essence of life inside you: usefulness. Whenever you feel useless or good-for-nothing, look for someone who needs your help and you will feel the magical effect on your life. This help can be offered at all levels and in all situations. There is no need to be a very informed person to be able to help. Having 10 apples and giving them all is much better that having a hundred apples and giving nothing at all.
The bottom line is that helping others is always worth the effort. Whether this help is short-termed or long-termed, direct or indirect.
Samaa Hosny 
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