On Heroes

We are taught, in this society, to believe in heroes.

Our own parents are our heroes, until we learn to rebel against them.

Through media we are bought and sold on the idea that we ought to idolize and deify certain people. I hear the voice of my father, who told me from a young age: most people are followers and few people are leaders. Being that the truth, I would also hold that merely because our disposition is not to lead does not mean we should be complicit in lifting up those heroes who proven themselves to be less than perfect.

Everyone I look up to is inherently flawed, thus human. I try not to have heroes anymore because I've had my heart broken over and over again.

If you want to look at a Scriptural passage to prove this: look at the Old Testament and the story of King David. A great man, full of wisdom, but also the murderer of the husband of a married woman--a woman whom he coveted. Naturally, David paid the price for his sin, as do we all. The true irony is that most of the time we are our own worst enemy.

Expanding this premise further: I think you'd find underneath the historical Jesus, a flawed creature no more divine than we are. And the choice that remains is this: do we love our heroes as they are, if we choose to have them? Do we become bitter and hateful of fellow human beings who do have heroes and will always sell into the tasty lies perpetuated in the sake of glory and particularly in money?

The choice is ours. But I would urge each of you to be your own hero. Don't be hard on yourselves when you do sin but to seek to live a life where you take stock of your own issues and not cast the blame on others, though to do so is as human as humanity.