"In elevating to a level of demiworship people with big bucks, we have been destroying the values of our future generation. We need a total rethinking of who the heroes are, who the role models are, who we should be honoring."Who are our heroes? What does our choice of heroes say about us?Rabbi Benjamin Blech, professor of philosophy of law at Yeshiva University, on the downfall of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.
When I was a kid, like many other kids growing up somewhere in New York State, Mickey Mantle was one of my heroes. Others included Bobby Richardson, A.J. Foyt, Don Garlits, and Richard Petty (yes, there's a pattern there). There were John Glenn, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, Neal Armstrong, Gus Grissom. After the Apollo 1 fire, certainly add Ed White and Roger Chaffee, though White was on the list during his Gemini 4 flight, years before. JFK was a hero, but I certainly didn't understand: I was just shy of my seventh birthday when he was assassinated. Over time, Martin Luther King became a hero.
Big U—Jack Yudell—was one of my heroes when I was a boy: my Scoutmaster, exhibiting everything I wanted to be if I ever became one. Ted Levy, too: my rabbi, always with gentle, sage wisdom, a smile, a nod, a greeting.
My grandparents were my heroes; so were my parents, and my Aunt Nina. Still are.
And now? First to mind is Al Haynes (captain of United 232, the DC-10 whose tail engine blew up roughly near Sioux City, Iowa). Al is a real-life hero, whose cool thinking saved over a hundred lives, and who understands enough of what happened to be able to pass on his lessons to others. I'll take a 70 year old greybeard like Al in the left front seat of my airplane any day, any time, any flight. Jim Lovell's still on the list, as is Neal Armstrong. Neal's a bit different: I've met Al, heard him speak a few times; heard Jim speak, too; never Neal, live and in person. But, his accomplishments, his cool head in some of the most stressful situations one can encounter are historic.
Essentially every current professional athelete is off the list, though. And as to those financiers and others who simply have "big bucks": no. But, I certainly have a sense that I understand what R. Blech means.
Antonia's a hero: struggling financially, loving, giving, trying to raise her family and keep her kids on the right track, living in a tough situation.
Chuck's a hero: staying involved in the lives of our youth through Scouting, helping our boys grow into men with a strong sense of positive values and self-esteem, with no direct personal gain (well, except for what we who volunteer with our youth all gain).
I don't know what my choice of heroes says about me: I haven't a sufficiently removed, objective perspective. I still wonder, though, at the plethora of magazines, blogs, Web sites, tabloids dedicated to so-called celebrities and their continue foibles and antics. Why such a widespread interest in whether this supposed film star is or isn't pregnant, is or isn't getting a divorce, is or isn't gaining or losing weight? Haven't we better things to do with our time? (Haven't I better things to do with mine than write these musings? Hmm…)
