Only if you could?

Question

If you could go back in time or even today, meet your hero, the one that inspired you to do whatever it is you do who would that person be and what would you say or ask them?

Lliam · Accepted Answer

I would like to talk to Mr. Freeman and tell him how much he inspired my life.

In 1965, I was 11 years old and had gotten my first guitar. My dad was the head of the experimental machinist lab at a major aerospace corporation and Mr. Freeman was an aerospace engineer. He volunteered to come to our house and give me some lessons.

When he arrived, I was surprised that he was a tall, slender, black man with a cool goatee. He was friendly and patient.
Come to find out, he wasn't just a guitarist. He was a flamenco master who had been to Spain twice to study the craft. And he could play anything on the guitar. I'm sure he could play jazz like a fiend.

He was more refined and cultured than my parents or anyone I had met.

I want to stress again that this was in 1965 at the height of the Watts riots and civil rights protests. But he came to our lily white neighborhood to teach me guitar.

He had spent his life under racial segregation, yet he somehow became an aerospace engineer and master guitarist. And he didn't have a chip on his shoulder. He acted like a regular guy.

I had never met a back man before but came to admire him greatly. After meeting him, I realized that black people were no different than anyone else. From then on, I couldn't possibly carry any racial stereotypes.

Whether he realized it or not, he was like an ambassador from the black community and changed my life. I consider him a hero.

I would like to be able to tell him these things.

Crimsyjo · Accepted Answer

I've never idolised anyone so I have nobody I'd particularly care to meet...  If I went back in time it would be more to correct mistakes I've made. Tell myself not to do something.