I find myself feeling like Andrew S that I find it hard to think of people who are my heroes. Certainly there are people I admire–lots of them–but considering them heroes feels like I’m just setting myself up to be let down when they reveal themselves to be human.

Sure. I wasn’t implying hypocrisy as a negative, just pointing out that there is no such thing as a human being who doesn’t believe in anything at all. Thus, every single human being, save Jesus Christ, was or will be a hypocrite at one point or another.

If you don’t believe in anything, you cannot violate principles, beliefs, agreements, or commitments.

As there is no such person alive on this planet, it seems we are all hypocrites at one time or another.

I did a brief video of one of my heroes last year, a cowboy named Leon Pope. He is person who you could trust your life with. It gets interesting about 1:30 minutes into it. Thanks for the original post Jeff.

“My Niece Died This Morning” (http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-niece-died-this-morning.html)

Clark, if we have admirable traits, then why would we need to find someone who exemplifies that then. For example, if I exemplify honesty, then I exemplify honesty as an ideal, even if that ideal is not embodied by a single person. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t embodied by a person or that people are imperfect, then, because I’m not anchoring things onto people. I don’t have to defend the people if I just have the ideal.

I suspect we do this because we think that if we make the same decisions they would, we’ll achieve similar results; or perhaps their life experience will help guide ours. Both of these reasons are flawed.

First, there’s the let-down already mentioned by several when they don’t measure up. (e.g. I pick JS as a hero [or example] of honesty and righteousness, and then discover there were times when he was neither)

Secondly, the “pattern of life” theory doesn’t work for me. Does anyone think that if they do exactly what GW Bush has done, they will become president? That if they seek to perfectly emulate Pres. Monson, they could be a bishop at 22 and apostle at 36?

The other problem is that many times, not enough information is available to form a well-rounded picture of how to model your life after. Case in point: Which apostle would you most like to be like, and why? I have such a opaque view of them (either sugar-coated Ensign articles or do-no-wrong biographies, combined with unanimous pronouncements) that it would be hard to differenciate. The same is trueof many celebrities.

In summary, I admire many men for certain character traits they have, but I don’t hold any as an “all-around example.”

Basically, heroes are asking for trouble. The idea of a hero is assuming too much out of any individual, so when one picks a hero, inevitably, one is setting oneself up for disappointment. This is especially the case with heroes that have been seen as “safe” in the past — MLKJr, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Joseph Smith. Each of these people, at face value (or based on elementary or junior high or high school knowledge) seems very heroic and very worth believing in…and sure, each person did great things…but each also has skeletons in the closet.

Being more realistic seems to make sense for me. MLKJr is just a guy. Gandhi is just a guy. Mother Teresa is just a (female) guy. and Joseph Smith is just a guy. The problem is that that last one bothers people, because even when people will accept he’s just a guy (and all prophets are just guys), they still psychologically want to put something more to guy status. So, Joseph Smith isn’t “just” a guy after all to many. He is Prophet. “Praise to the Man who communed with Jehovah,” etc.,

I guess I would agree then that hero selection matters. So, because I don’t select heroes, it does definitely affect the way I view things.

IMO, heroes should be admired for their great qualities and don’t need to be perfect. I prefer Spiderman heroism to Superman heroism. Also, I like to see the heroic and admirable qualities in every day people around me, qualities like grit & determination, compassion, and courage. You don’t have to be in extraordinary circumstances to have heroic qualities. But people of earlier generations (and some now) expected perfect heroes, which is one reason for so much white-washing of history, including people writing their own histories. To me, mythologizing heroes makes them less heroic, not more.

As to why so many celebrities and politicians let people down, well, they aren’t really heroes. They are either entertainers or public servants. People look to them for what they want from them: entertainment from the one, advocacy from the other. That’s why they are in the news–the public is interested in people who serve their interests. Of course they are lousy heroes. They were never heroes in the first place. Fame without merit = recipe for ego-driven personal tragedy.