Hey all,
Haven't been around because honestly nothing reasonable came to mind.
This thought however was on the periphery for quite some time now, it is not really a thought , more a question or is it really? , well having beaten the bush not around it , to pulp , Ill come straight out and well .... ask. We all have our role models , heroes....people we look up to , admire , follow, use as reference points when we ourselves are growing ,developing into people we eventually want to be. We know our heroes ( going to refer to these people as heroes from now on) from a distance in some cases from a considerable distance , maybe never ever met them in person. So how much do we really know these heroes? enough to place them on these imporant pedestals ? Sure? but these are not the questions that are bothersome ......that question is Do you really want to know your 'Hero'?
Let me give you an example, for me a legend who has been an idol for many , hero to a billion like myself , man who made miracles seem regular occurrences , so regular that they were expected , even demanded.... unfairly but no one cared ...all this on the field , of it known and seen to be very encouraging of young aspirants from his chosen field and many others which weren't his , generous , honest ,fair( as in not unfair, no one from our sport is genuinely fair ....skinned).....long story short ........'.Hero'. This guy has been around since I began realizing that the ball hurts the hand and it will every time till I keep at it .
So in essence the admiration , respect and I grew together ,now I have kids of my own, the guy is still up there and in my quest to know more about him ,suppose I get to know now , he refused to sign a kid's autograph or he doesn't get along with his wife , his childhood sweetheart(blasphemous) or broke some law......, Where does that leave me? and I am not being self centered ... remember billions at stake here , he never would have done these things.....never ever did in my mind , I can chose not to believe but he will surely slip a notch , I , for one cannot go on with life suspecting .......'Him' ........ I choose not to know beyond what I know and what keeps him safe ......but again its worth billions and some of those might read this so back to the question ..........would you really want to know your hero ? ........a question maybe?...... or just a thought....
Haven't been around because honestly nothing reasonable came to mind.
This thought however was on the periphery for quite some time now, it is not really a thought , more a question or is it really? , well having beaten the bush not around it , to pulp , Ill come straight out and well .... ask. We all have our role models , heroes....people we look up to , admire , follow, use as reference points when we ourselves are growing ,developing into people we eventually want to be. We know our heroes ( going to refer to these people as heroes from now on) from a distance in some cases from a considerable distance , maybe never ever met them in person. So how much do we really know these heroes? enough to place them on these imporant pedestals ? Sure? but these are not the questions that are bothersome ......that question is Do you really want to know your 'Hero'?
Let me give you an example, for me a legend who has been an idol for many , hero to a billion like myself , man who made miracles seem regular occurrences , so regular that they were expected , even demanded.... unfairly but no one cared ...all this on the field , of it known and seen to be very encouraging of young aspirants from his chosen field and many others which weren't his , generous , honest ,fair( as in not unfair, no one from our sport is genuinely fair ....skinned).....long story short ........'.Hero'. This guy has been around since I began realizing that the ball hurts the hand and it will every time till I keep at it .
So in essence the admiration , respect and I grew together ,now I have kids of my own, the guy is still up there and in my quest to know more about him ,suppose I get to know now , he refused to sign a kid's autograph or he doesn't get along with his wife , his childhood sweetheart(blasphemous) or broke some law......, Where does that leave me? and I am not being self centered ... remember billions at stake here , he never would have done these things.....never ever did in my mind , I can chose not to believe but he will surely slip a notch , I , for one cannot go on with life suspecting .......'Him' ........ I choose not to know beyond what I know and what keeps him safe ......but again its worth billions and some of those might read this so back to the question ..........would you really want to know your hero ? ........a question maybe?...... or just a thought....
Ranjit
ReplyDeleteNice thoughts.
In my opinion there is a big difference between a hero and a role model. We admire a hero for his achievements ( heroics) in a chosen field. The hero excels in his chosen field and gives us moments of joy, pleasure , happiness. We do not experience these by our actions due to our limited capabilities. A hero achieves something that we only dream of or can dream of.
Achieving glory , victories, creating a musical or artistic masterpiece has no correlation with being a role model. In fact it is quiet the opposite. Many sportsmen and artists ( commonly chosen heroes by us) have vices due to pressures of performance , weight of expectations to name a few reasons.Our subconscious says to us they are role models because we do not want to see them in any other light.
A role model can be a normal person like us who by his/her exemplary behaviour in life dazzles us in a different manner. Most role models are people who we see day in day out ( rather than in a limelight situation). This enables us to see their response , behaviour to various scenarios that life throws at us. Once we are convinced about the behaviour exhibited by this person they achieve role model status.
Now about the hero in question. I would be happy to replay the moments of joy he gave us time and time again.There is no point in prodding into his personal life, dissecting his nature or probing into incidents that could give us a different image. Because ultimately it is not the person that is our hero it is that image which is capable of performing those feats , is our hero.
My take is I am grateful for those moments and memories after that we move on. Once the movie is finished, we go home and think about the movie and not what the hero is having for dinner that night.
This logic keeps us at a safe distance and the hero in his protective cocoon, and becomes a Win Win situation. That is what a life is about isn't it?