Make yourself the model a model for yourself and for others who might be watching. Not necessarily a "role model" that someone 'should' follow, but a model that wouldn't be all that awful to follow. *that's* how you prepare for the future. How people treat each other in *every encounter*, whether in real life, online (whose separation isn't really that far, if it exists much at all) - determines how future people treat future people. I write, imagining how my words might read tomorrow. Next week. 100 years from now. Or I ask myself, "WHAT IF" a kid is reading my words? I have kid-followers on Vine, so I have to think of that stuff. WHAT am I transferring? Fear? Friendliness? Critical thinking? Anger? Frustration? What unintended messages might I be sending, along with my intention? Our intentions are unreadable things, as communication is a relationship with much blindness and we never get full satisfaction of knowing the effects we may have caused. Now, this is the road I chose as responsibility for the future. If I've given my best in presenting myself - not knowing if anybody _might_ be consciously/unconsciously modeling me - then my conscience is clear. But, on the other hand, if my presentation is something I might be embarrassed to show, say, the local newspaper, a legal review board on my conduct, my next door neighbor, broadcast on the news, said mockingly by someone who wanted to put me down... could I stand behind it? It's hard to do in every situation. But do it right, and it's more than just a reputation thing; it's knowing that something that came _from me_ *might* carry into the future through somebody else. To me, that's responsibility for the future, more than signing documents, talking about subject matter, etc. If I'm conveying a message of fear, then I'd better have some idea of consequences I might not intend. I'll give an example in a minute - I used fear today for something and had to think hard about it.