Saturday, July 11, 2009
Sure Are A Lot Of Heroes Around These Days
I was at the gym today and noticed coverage of the funeral of former Titans quarterback Steve McNair and the caption "heroes are not supposed to die” was at the bottom of the screen. I had to laugh to myself. Hero? First of all, I had to look up the guy's name again and who he played for before I began writing this blog. I'll admit I'm no football fan but still, even if I was... hero? For throwing a football? And didn't he get paid scads of money to do that? Once a week? Sixteen weeks a year? How is that hero worthy? And wasn't the man having an affair with a 20 year-old girl? Cheating on your wife... is that a hero? Terms like 'hero' 'legend' and 'icon' get tossed around for too easily these days. Athletes, actors, singers: many of them get paid ridiculous amounts of money for doing something they love. If that's the definition of a hero then we need to come up with a better term for real heroes. You know, the people who donate their time to help people less fortunate them they are. People who expect nothing in return for their charity (no monetary compensation, no awards, no wings of buildings named after them). There are beautiful people out there that give of their time and their energy to do the sort of things not many so-called 'heroes' would do and they never get recognized.
I really don't know a thing about the man or the way he lived his life more than what I've read the last couple of days. It just makes me cringe to think a promiscuous meathead would have the term hero associated with him. I understand the man is dead and there are people mourning his passing. But I think some realism about why he died and what he did for a living are in order. I just wish more deserving people got their due. Too bad it's not 'newsworthy' enough to be covered.
