Who is your most likely your idol?

This question was on a quiz I was taking this morning. The answer I decided to choose was this:

"Idols are for people who can't live up to thier own dreams so they have to chase after someone else's."

At first I found it to be a little tounge in cheek, but the more I thought about it, I realized just how serious I was about the answer itself. Then I started thinking... There really is many people I respect and have admired or even thought brilliant. People I have allowed to inspire and influence me, people I have looked up to and aspired to grow and emulate their characteristics or actions which have touched me. But Idolization seems to me to be too close to obsession, and obsession seems to me to be a very exclusive trait. I would rather allow myself the benefit of all wisdoms and thoughts, even if it challenges the notions I currently hold. Correction - especially if it challenges the notions I hold. So there I was thinking, as I said, and all these names started collecting in my head... so for momentary prosperity I am going to list (some of the) people, off the top of my head, that have been most influential to me as a person, or have had (or caused, as the case may be) the biggest impact on my life, my experience, our shared history and/or have illustrated the mysteries of our shared human condition. It is a wholly inconclusive list, too short for any real justice - and in no particular order, importance or otherwise...

Mahatma Gandhi, H. G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, Orson Welles, Galileo Galilei, Stephen King, Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Elie Wiesel, Bill Clinton, Terry Fox, Mother Teresa, Diana Spencer, Buddha Siddhartha Skakyamuni, Marshall McLuhan, Roberta Bondar, Thérèse Casgrain, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, William Shakespeare, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Daniel Quinn, Wil Ferguson, Dominik Hasek, M. Night Shyamalan, Martin Scorsese, Confucius, Prophet Muhammad, Sarah McLachlan, Soren Kierkegaard, Albert Einstein, Ambrose Bierce, Seneca, Stephen Hawkings, Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, the Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles Darwin, Amelia Earhart, Karl Marx, Aldous Huxley, Socrates, Maggie Thatcher, Jesus Christ, Desmond Tutu, Paul Henderson, Wayne Gretzky, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau, Michael Moore...

That being said, I do have heros not on this list, many in fact. But listing my heros would take much more consideration and would perhaps be done better another day.

Also, there are evils that need to be recognized as influencing my/our experienc of history, defining the world as we see it today, and even though they are despised by myself (and perhaps by history), they should be included (as they have forced sometimes the most influence into the world as I know it), but do deserve their own list:

Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden...

I have been conversing with Duncan over MSN while typing this blog post - and he is excited at my endeavour and has proposed us a project - we are going to spend some time massing the actually huge amount of names of those who deserve to be recognized as influential to us, and after deciding methodology, categories and the likes, we will publish our results for those who may be interested! I love pet projects, and Duncan has great ideas.

Well. now I have some housework to get done, and some video games to play, and an evening meal to prepare for... aren't days off wonderful?

EDIT AND ADDITIONS (courtesy of Duncan):

Adam Smith, Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred von Schlieffen, Aristotle, Bill Gates, Buddha, Charlemagne, Charles Darwin, Christopher Columbus, Confucius, Constantine, Elizabeth I, Enrico Fermi, Galileo Galilei, Issac Newton, James Watson / Francis Crick, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jesus, Johann Gutenberg, John Calvin, John Lennon / Paul McCartney, John Locke, John Maynard Keynes, Josef Stalin, Julius Caesar, Karl Marx, Leonardo di Vinci, Ludwig von Beethoven, Mahatma Ghandi, Mao Zedong, Martin Luther, Mohammed, Napoleon Bonaparte, Orville Wright / Wilbur Wright, Otto von Bismarck, Plato, Shigeru Miyamoto, Sigmund Freud, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Edison, Thomas Jefferson, Vladimir Lenin, Walt Disney, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill