Attractive [Personality] Models, Part I

There is a type of personality that I envy; not that I actually would want to exchange identities with those who possess it.  For the most part, I tend to be reserved, passive, and not a wee bit suspicious concerning my interactions with others.  For anyone who knows anything about my upbringing as a child, this should not come as a surprise.  After all, we grow up emulating those around us the most and tend to adopt their demeanor and outlook, including how we see and react to other people.  But from time to time in my life, I have run across others who approach their social dealings in an entirely different manner, cultivating each individual relationship in conversation with the theme almost always being getting to know the other and their experiences and views.  You might think that this personality type exhibits some degree of maturity, but I encountered more of them in my early, pre-adolescent childhood among some of my age-group peers.  Then, going through puberty seemed to change a lot of them into reserved, hypercompetitive types with whom an interaction was seen as a contest, if not a threat to them.  But even in high school, I would occasionally (not often, though) run across a refreshing, friendly soul whose attitude was positive and interested.  The most striking occurrence with this was back in my tenth grade chemistry class when, out of the blue, a kid a year older than me, Steve, introduced himself and instituted a friendship.  He displayed a mixture of that childlike (not childish) enthusiasm and friendliness... plus something I would later abruptly recognize on PBS Playhouse's version of a forties' hit movie...

In the early 1980's, I had pretty much isolated myself from the world at large, living alone like a hermit except when the need arose to go to work (where I pretty much kept to myself as well, with some notable exceptions).  One exquisitely solitary evening at home, I had my tiny b/w television tuned in to the local Public Broadcasting channel when "their" new version of the old cinematic classic You Can't Take It With You came on.  The starring role in this one (more so than in the original 1938 movie) was the oddball family's "Grandpa" Martin Vanderhof, perfectly played by Jason Robards.  This character captivated me by his interest in others and his relaxed demeanor about life in general.  Robards stole the movie with his portrayal and made this 1984 version of an already popular story something that all good pieces of art, music, and literature do: it began to effect a change within me, in this case with me looking more outward than inward. 

I don't possess Martin's personality...at least most of the time I don't.  But I do often find myself engaging others in the very same type of banter that he did in that unforgettable show I saw nearly thirty years ago.  But get this: this character, by his own admission, had undergone a transformational change himself and had made a decision to value things that were more important.  His choice was to abandon the pursuit of a high-stress career, leaving the rat race to others.  My change may not manifest in the exact same way as his, but we just might end up in the same place, anyway.  I hope so, at least: he seemed to be one happy dude!