- Nov 10, 2013
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In a collapsing economy along with a culture of self absorbed narcissism, there are no heroes. However there are acts of heroism. Everywhere I look I see people who are losing it in line at the store, in traffic, waiting at the DMV, etc. People are at their wit's end, and insanity awaits just below the surface to spring forth into rampaging life at the snap of a twig, or a malfunctioning technological device, or some government oversight that cost them a few thousand dollars in unwarranted penalty fees.
When I was a kid, I remember hearing people say, "Anyone can grow up to be President", and as a kid I thought that was the most preposterous thing I could imagine. Now, it doesn't seem so unlikely anymore. Looking back over the last three or four decades it almost looks to me as if the prerequisites for the Presidency are immaturity, pettiness, self righteous indignation, a lack of moral integrity etc.
Kids today look up to whoever is getting the most attention. They imagine themselves one day gaining attention in whatever way they can, whether it be as some sports/pop music/rap/ movie/etc. star, or the lone gunman who blows away a few dozen people before evacuating their cranial vault on live television.
The heroes today are those who are able to maintain some semblance of composure in the midst of a world gone completely insane. I think it was Luther who said that even if he knew the world were to end tomorrow, he would still plant a tree today. There are still a lot of people around who get up, go to work, improve the lives of others, and work on being a better version of themselves rather than just a more well known version of themselves.
In this age of the selfie, I think it would be preferable for children today to look up to something beyond themselves, rather than attempting to imitate fallible or provocative personalities who are themselves only looking to push the envelope of credulity for yet more attention.
Heroes are almost always recognized by people around them, but perhaps what we need instead of more heroes are saints. Saints are rarely recognized by people around them; sometimes not even for decades or longer after they're gone.
I'd like to see not just children, but adults begin to see the benefits of emulating or focusing not on the self, but an anti-self, a non self, a self denied and ignored, the unrecognized hero; the saint.
When I was a kid, I remember hearing people say, "Anyone can grow up to be President", and as a kid I thought that was the most preposterous thing I could imagine. Now, it doesn't seem so unlikely anymore. Looking back over the last three or four decades it almost looks to me as if the prerequisites for the Presidency are immaturity, pettiness, self righteous indignation, a lack of moral integrity etc.
Kids today look up to whoever is getting the most attention. They imagine themselves one day gaining attention in whatever way they can, whether it be as some sports/pop music/rap/ movie/etc. star, or the lone gunman who blows away a few dozen people before evacuating their cranial vault on live television.
The heroes today are those who are able to maintain some semblance of composure in the midst of a world gone completely insane. I think it was Luther who said that even if he knew the world were to end tomorrow, he would still plant a tree today. There are still a lot of people around who get up, go to work, improve the lives of others, and work on being a better version of themselves rather than just a more well known version of themselves.
In this age of the selfie, I think it would be preferable for children today to look up to something beyond themselves, rather than attempting to imitate fallible or provocative personalities who are themselves only looking to push the envelope of credulity for yet more attention.
Heroes are almost always recognized by people around them, but perhaps what we need instead of more heroes are saints. Saints are rarely recognized by people around them; sometimes not even for decades or longer after they're gone.
I'd like to see not just children, but adults begin to see the benefits of emulating or focusing not on the self, but an anti-self, a non self, a self denied and ignored, the unrecognized hero; the saint.
