I was watching a video the other day of rapper Chamillionare talking about the time he met Michael Jordan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUlIa3pt0o8. .He found out the hero and the man he worshipped, were two different people. Which is usually the case. We tend to worship people based on perception, rather than any real knowledge of their personality. I have read stories for years about Michael Jordan being arrogant and self centered.That is what probably made him the greatest player ever. That is not an excuse to act like an ass. When you think of a hero, who do you think of? What makes someone heroic? Think about this, some people say their heroes are Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, even Muhammed Ali. Now MLK was a great leader and the things he did for us as a people can never be underestimated, but according to rumor he was a womanizer. Does that make him any less heroic? Does it matter? Jesse Jackson had child out of wedlock, does that diminish Operation Push, The Rainbow Coalition or the fact that he was the first African American to win a presidential primary. No it doesn’t diminish anything it just means he’s a flawed individual. Muhammed Ali was a known womanizer does that take away from his greatness in the ring? Of course not.
The point I’m making is that we put too much stock in peoples public persona, cultivated images and their exploits on the playing field. We need to stop the hero worship of athletes and entertainers. It’s fine to admire someone for their abilities, but understand they are human just like us. They make mistakes just like us and most of them don’t deserve “Hero Worship”. The problem is, a lot of our kids don’t have realistic expectations.They look to sports and entertainment to show them the way. Not enough kids know who Dr Ben Carson is http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car1bio-1 or even Dr Vivian Thomas
http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/vthomas.htm . I’m not saying you have to idolize Doctors or surgeons, but understand there are other alternatives than being Lil Wayne or Kobe Bryant. Two talented individuals but hardly the role models you need to emulate. The closest person I have to a hero is Joe F Smith my grandfather .The patriarch of the Smith family. He and my grandmother have been married 63 years and still talk to each other like newlyweds. My grandfather was not a rich man moneywise, but he is rich in character, integrity and honesty. My grandfather taught me about family ,hardwork and sacrifice. Life lessons that being young and hardheaded I didn’t heed until I was older.I am eternaly grateful for my grandfather.he taught me how to be a man. The best thing anyone can do is to take the life lessons that your elders teach you and use them to become a better person. Stop Hero worshipping celebrities. In the Immortal words of Chuck D “Most of my hero’s don’t appear on no stamp”. I’ll take it a step further a hero ain’t nothing but a sandwich.
2 comments:
You're absolutely right. Some of us put too much faith in superstars, sports figures and other public figures, when in reality they're all human, just like us! It's okay to honor a person's achievements or a cause that they support or stand for, but when it comes to idolizing them, that's just taking it too far. Okay, now, where's my sandwich? LOL
Sharon I will have to agree with you, people should not idolize anyone. People who do things for a cause, something that will benefit others, uplift others are very good ROLE MODELS, these are people to can aspire to be like or be better than, not be. The line is crossed when you idolize, young people idolize, beauty (what society says is beauty), money, fame, power, sports, rappers, singers… all materialistic things you can’t take with you when you are gone. A hero is someone real, someone you can touch, talk to and lean on. A hero to me is always family; you can turn to them and get guidance, love, help and interact with them on the daily. It is better to achieve goals and visions based on people who made a difference to as a ROLE MODEL than to IDOLIZE someone you will never meet, have a conversation with or any interaction at all, those people are just people and do not make a significant difference in our lives, they are entertainment and good at what they do but do not deserve the title HERO. They only person I IDOLIZE is God and sense all people are flawed; we operate in the human realm which means nothing when it comes to accomplishments, goals and visions because if your intentions are not honorable and Godly you cannot be a role model or a hero to anyone so what good could come of it? I’m just sayin…
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