When I was very little I loved Picture Pages. They were lots of fun with my crayons and my pencils. I also loved watching Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. I was known to eat a pudding pop or two in my time. Now that we know what we know about the man, it makes me wonder if a large portion of my childhood has been tainted. Sure his personal life never encroached on any of the things I saw while growing up, but now I know that for all of my life I was laughing and learning with a serial rapist. That kind of revelation makes one wonder if we're looking up to the wrong people. And even worse for me is that it makes me more cynical. Now when I see someone doing something wonderful or heroic there is a small scratch of a voice in the back of my mind that asks 'What horrible secret are they hiding?' It doesn't help that we can't go very long without some famous person or hero to many making it onto the news and letting us down. A man who overcame cancer and won the Tour de France several times becoming an inspiration for millions, showing that with hard work and determination you could kick cancer in the balls. Except that we find out it was hard work, determination, and literally swapping his blood out while aggressively attacking anyone who dared question if he ever cheated.
There were plenty of people who felt some strange bit of satisfaction when that story came to light. Finally that man who seemed super human in his physical ability was brought back down to our level. It seems as though there are people who secretly want heroes to fail so that they don't feel as small compared to them, but wouldn't wanting that make them both petty and small? I see the flip side though and wonder how it affects the people who look up to these heroes. Imagine having someone you look to for inspiration turn out to be something of a monster. Does that mean you weren't smart enough to see it? Were you a fool for ever having hope in someone else? Maybe it means we're looking up to the wrong people. Or maybe we're putting too much onto a single person because in the end, they are just people. It could be that the person started out wanting to do and be good, but eventually the pressure to constantly serve as a hero to the masses meant pushing to win at any cost, including ruining other people's lives. There was a specific story that had to be maintained. You know, for the greater good. And of course money.
It could be that the person in question wasn't always a terrifying monster. They began as anyone else, with a sense of right and wrong that was mostly in tact. Then as time went on they started to believe their own hype and listened to all those people saying how great they were and how there weren't limits for a person like them. The money and the fame warping all semblance of a moral compass. I mean was the Subway guy always into exploiting children or did that come because he had the money and means to do what he wanted because no one expected him to be anything other than a hero? Being given endless amount of praise for simply being you probably messes with anyone's morals because there isn't any context for what's not acceptable. Look at that small Asian nation, lead by a fat little man who is so delusional with power that he has decided to great his own time zone. That's the epitome of corrupted by power.
We have this constant need for things to be fair. It's a concept we learn at a very young age. Share your toys. Make sure everyone gets a turn. Don't take more than your fair share. When someone does something wrong there is supposed to be justice that keeps things fair. Strangely enough though we also want that same sense of fairness for people who seem to be 'better' than us or have more than us. Never mind the circumstances that got the rich or famous person to their place in the world. I want that too. How come they get to have it and I don't? Thoughts like that lead back to that secret want. That hope that one day we'll get to watch them fall. That they deserve to be knocked down because they had so much and we didn't. Is it part of our nature to feel this way? To want to make sure that everyone is humbled enough that no one feels like they're lesser than someone else?
Then again maybe we should stop treating athletes and celebrities as though they're heroes. Sure that guy is an incredible golfer, but being good at one thing shouldn't necessarily mean that we look to them as an inspiration for life. It could by why fictional heroes are so popular right now. We need someone to look up to. Someone who won't let us down because the story won't allow it. There is very little chance we're going to find out that Han Solo was actually a child molester or that Captain America was a white supremacist. How come it's not doctors or scientists or people pushing for social improvements in quality that are being hoisted up as heroes? Maybe the real heroes are the ones who are left alone to do the actual good work and not be corrupted by the very people who look up to them.
