Mentors and Role-Playing

We should note there are many fiction writers in literature that also add to the role-playing literature. Many of these fictional writers are merely stereotypes of writers, but they are writers and these stereotypes influence many writers as role-models. Some people who become friends of writers often become friends of a stereotype that they have of the writer. Often writers then have to correct their friends, that they are not some stereotypical writer. This however is true of many roles. Roles can be stereotypes. People can also provide the originating role, which is the archetype, this is the originating role. The first king of a nation, for example. The first national hero. The first Pope. These can be historical or prehistorical originating models. These models can also be provided by the imaginations of the people, as in folklore and folkstories.

Let’s say we have the first female president of the USA, which unlike other countries, has not yet had a female president. That female can have many presidential men as role models, but when that person goes into the role she is going to be a female president. Are there any females who have been leaders of nations that this female can learn from along with all the men? How is the role going to be the same? How is it going to be different? Are there any choices that men leaders of nations make that a female leader of a nation might feel required to make a different choice? Do the people in the nation even know how to have a female president? They know how to have men presidents, but do they know how to have a female president? This is true of course if we have different ethnic groups as presidents. And some ethnic groups of course might be excluded from being the president of certain nations, like a gypsy being president of France for example, even though gypsies have been in France for centuries, and many might even be qualified. These are questions we must ask. Maybe a gypsy might be accepted as president of a gypsy nation, and certainly they have their “presidents.” These are questions that role-players might consider. Gypsies who have been in Mexico for centuries might be allowed to be president of Mexico–maybe? These are questions that role-players ask.

However, role-players should seek mentors who have played the role before them. These allow them to study the role before they play the role and study the role while they are playing the role. Again, these mentors can be secular/worldly, intellectual/worldly, and/or spiritual.