Older Brother Leadership

                There is supposedly one benefit about being a younger sibling; you can look up to an older one. I know this isn’t always true. It certainly wasn’t so much in my case.  While I did take habits from my older brother, I never looked up to him. It was more about competition. This certainly helped me in a different sense, but I never had the other side of an older brother with him.

                I noticed in myself I view those placed under my leadership or tutorage as "little siblings," meaning I look out for them and try to help them out as I can with my advice. This comes from me caring for them. I don’t know if it’s because I was always the leader in my group of friends growing up or because I never felt like I had that relationship with my brother. I can only recall one occasion where he told me to take his advice. As a result, I looked more to other upperclassmen as my “older brother” for guidance in High School.

                I see this kind of relationship as important in life. These are the kinds of people who can look at for you in a confusing situation. They can teach you what they have learned. They have more experience with what you are going through. They also have recent hindsight to see how they could have done things better. However, it isn’t enough that we be on the receiving end of this, we also need to become the givers. As we transition, we will grow towards progress.