Hero

I’ve been thinking for a long time that we don’t have many “good guy” hero’s in America anymore. They all seem to have a spotted past or seem to screw up often. Now are the hero’s who have a jacked up past more realistic? sure, but I think that we all shoot for an ideal, and kids look to role models to be (or “model”) that ideal. In most cases when you shoot for an ideal you will fall short, so I think that it is important that when an ideal is presented the bar be placed high so that even if you do fall short you still farther than you would have been had the bar been set lower. (ie: Having a goal to jump 10 Feet. If you fall short at 9 feet you still would have made it farther then if your goal was 8 feet and you fell short.)

The best example “hero” that I can think of is the “Watchmen”. Now I have only seen the movie, and have not read the graphic novel, so that is what my opinion is based on. Each one has his own SEVERE issues to deal with. More than one are murderers, one of the older Watchmen is portrayed as a rapist, one is a work-aholic. While I was watching the movie I was having problems picking sides. I mean who were the real bad guys?

I do believe in redemption, in an opportunity to become more than what your sin once made you. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross so I don’t have to carry the weight of my past sins; I believe that his sacrifice covered my sins, and can cover all other’s sins as well. With that being said I would not “aspire” to be a sinner simply so Jesus could save me. That is not what I want for my kids, I want my kids to have hero’s who learn from their mistakes, hero’s that don’t break the law, hero’s with integrity, hero’s with honor, hero’s that choose to do right instead of wrong.

I want to be a real hero to my children, and point them to my hero Jesus, but I think about the growing number of young boys who have no father, who is their hero? Who will they look up to as an ideal? With as much TV as the American youth watches it will be what the media puts forth, and those ‘hero’s’ are looking more and more like villains.

Until Next time

Ryan