I remember when I was growing up and I looked to the world to find who my heroes were, who I wanted to be like, whom, someday I would be proud if people compared me to that person. I think about how I wished I was making the winning shot like Michael Jordan, or how I wanted to star in the next big action movie like Bruce Willis.
It was only later in life that I realized how ridiculous this was. Not that I wanted to do those things, but how I wanted to be like certain individuals. It was only after I gained some wisdom that I realized that the people so many kids see as heroes provide very little traits that you would want to exemplify.
In today’s media we are flooded with stories of athletes accused of murder, caught driving drunk, or getting in trouble with the law. Stars in Hollywood are in and out of rehab, in and out of marriages, and in and out of spats with other celebrities. Politicians cheat on their wives, cheat on their resumes, and cheat on the American people. What kind of role models are these for the young generation growing up today?
That is the question many Americans are looking to have answered - where or who will the next hero be. Who will my son be able to wish he grew up as? Then I realized… who better than his own father! I should be the example of what “good” looks like to my son. I shouldn’t depend on athletes, celebrities or politicians to show my son how to live his life.
Maybe that is the attitude America needs to take? Maybe we should all strive to be role models to the next generation? We don’t need to think of ourselves acting like the Avengers here, we are not getting super powers any time soon, and we probably won’t as individuals are charged with saving the existence of humanity. But there are things that we can do that might be considered heroic.
A true hero could be a father that spends time with his kids in the yard, purposefully missing a weekend of football. A true hero could be a mother that tucks in her kids goodnight instead of gossiping on the phone with her friends or checking her Facebook. A true hero could just stop to help a fellow person in need without worrying about what they will benefit from it. What if the next generation sees those things, remembers those things? What if the simple act of showing love to your children and those around you resonates with the youth and it becomes a stepping stone for a brighter future? But even that doesn’t seem “hero” enough. How about this? What if the next generation is taught that there actually are no heroes in our culture today or even their homes? What if they are taught that the only one True Hero is Jesus who died for our sins so that we may have life!
The Bible gives us our heroes and none as powerful as that! Don’t get me wrong, and I didn’t mean to confuse, instead to put it in perspective. While we can strive to be “role-models” for the youth of today, and living a life to be that example is exactly what we should do, we shouldn’t confuse our abilities and actions with that of the one who gave up His life for eternal life for everyone else. While I want my son to see me as someone he can look up to, more than that I want him to know who he can look to as a hero in his life, and that can only be Christ.
- Jason Dupay
It was only later in life that I realized how ridiculous this was. Not that I wanted to do those things, but how I wanted to be like certain individuals. It was only after I gained some wisdom that I realized that the people so many kids see as heroes provide very little traits that you would want to exemplify.
In today’s media we are flooded with stories of athletes accused of murder, caught driving drunk, or getting in trouble with the law. Stars in Hollywood are in and out of rehab, in and out of marriages, and in and out of spats with other celebrities. Politicians cheat on their wives, cheat on their resumes, and cheat on the American people. What kind of role models are these for the young generation growing up today?
That is the question many Americans are looking to have answered - where or who will the next hero be. Who will my son be able to wish he grew up as? Then I realized… who better than his own father! I should be the example of what “good” looks like to my son. I shouldn’t depend on athletes, celebrities or politicians to show my son how to live his life.
Maybe that is the attitude America needs to take? Maybe we should all strive to be role models to the next generation? We don’t need to think of ourselves acting like the Avengers here, we are not getting super powers any time soon, and we probably won’t as individuals are charged with saving the existence of humanity. But there are things that we can do that might be considered heroic.
A true hero could be a father that spends time with his kids in the yard, purposefully missing a weekend of football. A true hero could be a mother that tucks in her kids goodnight instead of gossiping on the phone with her friends or checking her Facebook. A true hero could just stop to help a fellow person in need without worrying about what they will benefit from it. What if the next generation sees those things, remembers those things? What if the simple act of showing love to your children and those around you resonates with the youth and it becomes a stepping stone for a brighter future? But even that doesn’t seem “hero” enough. How about this? What if the next generation is taught that there actually are no heroes in our culture today or even their homes? What if they are taught that the only one True Hero is Jesus who died for our sins so that we may have life!
The Bible gives us our heroes and none as powerful as that! Don’t get me wrong, and I didn’t mean to confuse, instead to put it in perspective. While we can strive to be “role-models” for the youth of today, and living a life to be that example is exactly what we should do, we shouldn’t confuse our abilities and actions with that of the one who gave up His life for eternal life for everyone else. While I want my son to see me as someone he can look up to, more than that I want him to know who he can look to as a hero in his life, and that can only be Christ.
- Jason Dupay