I'm sure parents are going to be a pretty common response to this, and mine is going to have to be my father. I don't get along with him at all. Can't stand being around him for more than 10 minutes. That doesn't mean I don't respect everything he stands for, and want to be more like him every day.
He is always trying to "Maximise fun". Even though he worked 70-80 hours a week to keep food on the table, he always had time to get as many neighbor kids and family members together to go on an "Adventure". To everyone else, he was the cool dad. To me, he was obnoxious and all I wanted to do was go hang out with my friends. I was a typical stupid teenage kid. River rafting, to hiking to the top of a mountain, to shooting guns or riding horses. We never had much money, but he was always up to something.
He's been put through more trials than I have seen many go through. He lost his job after working for a union job for 17 years. The company went bankrupt, and it was very abrupt. I had 2 brothers serving LDS missions at the time, so we all worked. All summer, after school, on the weekends. We ate bread and jam most nights, we kept our home, but it was ruff. All that happening, he never lost it. He was always helping others. He always had to be the guy to pull over, and give the drifter a ride, just to hear his story. He always honks his horn and waves at the people walking, and he always told everyone that he loves them, regardless of how long he knew them. I remember one time, he had a hotel reservation. It got messed up, and they had to call the booking agency, which happened to be in a different country. He talked the front desk person into letting him talk, while they waited on authorization. The nice lady was from a different country. He just talked with her about everything. Finally everything went through, and he ends the call with "Have I told you today that I love you, and appreciate you for all you do?" The person broke down bawling, and told my dad "No one tells me that. I just really needed to hear that, thank you". I would say this one changed me, but this stuff happens all the time... They all change me, and make me want to be a better man.
He finally started to get back oh his feet though. But we recently found that he had stage 4 lymphoma cancer. We are hoping for the best, and be is getting chemo treatments. But he is my role model. If everyone can be more like him, the world would be a much more annoying place, but also much better.