Who's Your Harry?

I suppose I can't ignore it anymore. Potter-mania has taken over the world. Since the latest movie and last book burst onto the scene, nearly every form of media has been infiltrated 24/7 with Potter related stories. And that's OK. I, too, love Harry. I admire him for his basic decency, his humanity, his ability to (mostly) do the right thing in extreme circumstances. I admire J.K. Rowling for creating him, and for continuing to use her amazing imagination to move the story forward, for making leaps of connection to the past books and the past of the Wizarding world. I am impressed that these leaps work, if sometimes a little creakily.
Perhaps there has been nothing quite like it in the history of children's literature, or indeed literature in general, so many people waiting, desperate for A BOOK. To follow their hero's next adventure.
I am trying to remember my heroes and heroines, when I was at the tender age of Harry's younger readers. I can't think of many, literary or not. I enjoyed the tales of C.S. Lewis, but didn't really identify with any of his Narnian characters, even Lucy. I think horses were my heroes. The Black Stallion, the Blood Bay colt, Man O'War, the Pie from National Velvet. Then, when I was twelve, I read Jane Eyre, and she became my favorite literary heroine. Still is.
But the real people who could have been role models for me were pretty sparse when I was growing up. I didn't personally know any writers or artists or musicians, doing the things I loved to do. I've talked to friends who also lament the lack of role models in their young lives, too.
So, I thought, can't we have them now? Can't we strive to emulate the people (or characters)who inspire us in our present lives? I guess we can. I guess we're not too old and shriveled up to strive.
I think my role model now would be, among others: Julia Child, for her love of life and food, and teaching others to do the same. Her humor and uniqueness. She didn't let anything stop her. She just went on merrily chortling through her long and productive life. She didn't really find what she was meant to do (ie, cook) until she was in her late thirties, when she also found her husband, Paul. She didn't publish her best- known tome, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, until she was nearly fifty, and the TV show didn't take off until some time after that. Then she went steaming along until well into her nineties. She gives all us late bloomers hope. I think she's my Harry Potter, right now.
So Who's Your Harry? Literary or not (and maybe Harry is your Harry). Someone you admire, someone you'd want to emulate? What are they like? How do they affect the world? How are you like them, how would it have changed you to have them as a role model as a child, how could you be more like them now?
Write it, draw it.