Posted by
Matt Schaeffer on Friday, September 21, 2007 10:30:17 PM
Remember when we were young and we had heros and role models to look up to? Remember when there were good sports players, fireman, policeman, Marvel comics superheroes and military men that graced the screen and gave our young children a reason to strive for something? It wasn't that long ago was it? What happened to those times? What happened to those times when role models were great for kids?
Nowadays, at least in the last 10 years or so, we have sports figures such as Michael Vick injuring animals for the fun of gambling. Allen Iverson stating it's OK to miss practice because it doesn't really help out the other teammates. We also have NBA star Dennis Rodman and Nascar driver Tony Stewart punching and kicking reporters. We have Major League Baseball players being asked to testify about taking steroids and HGH. We have past and present NFL players involved in robberies, gun crimes and murders such as OJ Simpson, Ray Caruth, Adam Jones and Tank Williams. We have hockey players taking cheap shots on the ice that almost kill the opposition. What ever the sport, we have our share of bad apples. Too many to be exact.
Outside of sports we have police chiefs having extramarital affairs during crisis situations. We have military personnel possibly mistreating prisoners of war (I'm still not convinced it was harassment, more like embarrassment). We have US Congressman and Senators engaged in inappropriate activity with themselves and young pages. Oh yeah, how could I forget, we had our very own President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton, get a little "extra" flavor on his cigar while trying to deal with foreign policy issues across the globe.
Regardless of the sport, the profession or even the individual, we as a society have let our guard down and more importantly, we have let our young people down. We have not giving them the correct guidance to move ahead like upstanding adults. We have given them nasty habits or immoral ideas that some in the new generation would call "cool". For example, think of President Clinton, did he or did he not completely change what the word "sex" meant? He took the whole meaning of moral character right out of the equation for that topic. I wonder what's next, having him teach a "sex" ed course to teenagers of how to get a woman to say "yes"?
I guess our only hope is to have good moral and upstanding individuals bring back what it means to be a role model to our young adults and future leaders. We must bring back the moral high ground on everyday issues and help the young strive to be good again. Let them know that it is ok to be an upstanding individual that helps out in the community and has a true family. I guess I'm still glad that I have my Mom and Dad to look up to.