Is anyone else getting just a little tired of our “heroes”? It’s obviously in our nature to place fellow earthly inhabitants on pedestals, which is fine as long as we keep it all in perspective. But that is nearly impossible to do, especially for our children. I’m fortunate enough that my girls were too young to know much about Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan when they slipped into the abyss. But this is like waiting for the other shoe to drop. I think I’ll add Taylor Swift, Hillary Duff and Miley Cyrus to my prayer list that they somehow keep their lives straight.
I’ve heard the term “fallen angel” to describe our shattered role models. What a pathetic use of words – perhaps the underpinning of our problem. We tend to elevate the greats in sports, Hollywood, music and politics to some godly height and then we’re slack-jawed when they fail. This is what we get for forgetting they are human.
I write this with some naïveté. I have rarely looked up to the typical greats as any form of role model. Tiger is a great golfer and is well-spoken, that’s it. Mel Gibson is a decent actor and an interesting director, that’s all. Taylor Swift is a good songwriter and a good performer, no more. Yes, many of these people do great things behind the scenes. Gary Sinise is a huge supporter of our troops and has launched several charities to help the people of Iraq. I hold Gary Sinise on a small pedestal, not because he is an accomplished actor, but because he uses his celebrity for positive actions in a dark world, and he does it nearly completely under the radar.
But I recognize that I’m lucky for role models – I’ve never needed to look any further than my own family. My father and grandfathers would be honored, albeit embarrassed, to know they are role models. And there lies our litmus test. A narcissist may do good things, but only for his own glory. A hero does good things and is humbled by any recognition. But let us not forget any role model is still human and thereby doomed to failure, making it all the more important to keep things in perspective. There was only one perfect human being to ever walk this earth and His story is written for all of us to read. He is my role model. Though I stumble and fall; am sometimes wicked and always with sin; am impatient and imperfect; am wasteful and often inconsiderate, am jealous and ever doubtful – Jesus has become the one I chose to follow and emulate. I am not worthy, but he accepts me anyway with the spilling of His blood. My hero fell once, too. But He rose to become my King.
