TBG says it all the time - to whom can a parent point a child seeking a hero?
I might have started with religious leaders, but there's all that mess in the Catholic Church. As a girl, I used to like to listen to Rabbi Hillel Hyman. Daddooooo thought he was the smartest Rabbi he'd ever met; I just thought he was cool. Young, hip, and quick-witted, he listened as well as he spoke. I never felt small or ignorant or foolish; I rose to his level. In today's climate, I'm not sure that G'ma would be comfortable with me spending time alone in an office with him.
I'm watching the Bobby Petrino mess erupt all over the news. Petrino, who left his Louisville football team mid-season for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, who he left with 3 games left in the season for Arkansas, has just been fired by the University for lying about his inappropriate relationship with a 25 year old member of his staff. He probably shouldn't have said that he was alone on the motorcycle he crashed early this month. After all, a police report was filed.
No one ever learns. The cover-up is always worse than the facts, no matter how damning the facts might be. Of course, given that Petrino is the at-this-point-in-time-still-married father of 4 adult children. "I'm sorry" just doesn't cut it.
Ozzie Guillen, leading the revamped Florida Marlins' Latin baseball image, managed to alienate anyone and everyone who spares a moment thinking about Fidel Castro. I can admire the man's staying power, too.... but only in one language. I'm willing to believe that the nuance was lost in his translation-in-my-head from Spanish to English.... I gotta admire the guy... people have been trying to get to him for 60 years and he's still there .... I gotta admire his perseverance...... doesn't sound like a paean to Communism in Cuba to me.
Now, maybe Ozzie is secretly plotting to overthrow the USofA and turning us into a socialized paradise, but I don't think so. He's Ozzie, and his mouth is often ahead of his brain. But, for a young person looking for a leader to admire, his gaffes are troubling. On the other hand, he owned up to it, accepted the 5 game suspension, and promised to learn from his mistakes.
Not a bad response, I think.
Sadly for Ozzie, it was a slow news day so his error made it to the evening news instead of being restricted to the shouting heads on ESPN. Another one bites the dust, it seems.
I was behind a mom-mobile yesterday. The bumper sticker read I reached my goal at Anonymous Elementary. Stunned, I could barely shift into first gear when the light changed. Parents are now advertising that their kids do what is expected of them. Just as with our search for a hero, simply avoiding pitfalls is cause for celebration. Am I stretching too far to suggest that Rick Santorum's sweater vests were, like Sarah Palin's wilful ignorance, a nod to the I'm no better than you are school of politics?
Frankly, I'm looking for someone better than I am to run things. I'm looking for someone to share my highest expectations and to push me to challenge myself to achieve them. I'm looking for someone to admire.... and I'd like to find one before I am blessed with grandchildren old enough to ask me about my heroes.
I cannot believe someone is advertising that their child is doing the bare minimum. It really irks me too. It's as if they are saying, "You don't have to really try, you are great anyway". It's this sense of superiority along with the dumbing down and calling people elite if they are educated that is hurting our children today. I remember a line in The Incredibles where Craig T. Nelson's character says they are celebrating mediocrity when his son graduates from the fourth grade to the fifth grade. I'm constantly thinking of this line when trying to not coddle my children. It's OK to help their self-esteem, but they need to make an effort. I'm not going to reward them just because.
ReplyDeleteAs for heroes, I'm disillusioned. I know everyone has flaws, but it just seems that there isn't really anyone to call a hero in the true sense of heroism.
I'm off to get work done.
Hugs,
Megan xxx
Celebrating excellence and achievement and brilliance... that's my next crusade!
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Did YoU ever know that YoU'Re mY Heee-Ro??? CLiCHé, but TRue. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, T'moM <3 I feel a responsibility..... and often wonder why others in the public eye do not.
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I think there aren't many real heroes in the world anymore becuase we look in the wrong places. So often we look to musicians, actors and actresses, sports figures and 'most' have no concept of life outside of money and greed. I know that is a generalization but all too often, it's what I see! sad, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes, Tracy, it's very sad. They get so much media attention, for all the wrong reasons. That's why I'm such a Tim Tebow fan - he's real and he's a good guy.... so what if he can't really throw the football :)
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