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We Need Our Heroes

By Theresa Camoriano

The latest news has focused on two young men – the first being Tim Tebow, the winner of the Heisman trophy, and the other a murderer of eight innocent people in a shopping mall in Nebraska.  Tim Tebow, the athlete, modestly thanked everyone who had helped him achieve his success, including God, while the murderer sought fame on the cheap, simply by destroying innocent lives. 

What was the difference?  Why did Tim Tebow set his priorities and work hard for many years, developing his skills, and foregoing other pursuits, building himself and others up in order to achieve his goals, while the murderer was hell-bent on taking innocent people with him as he committed suicide?  I think one difference is that Tim Tebow had heroes – positive role models that he admired.

Tebow idolized Danny Wuerffel, a former Florida Gator who had won the Heisman and who was the first Heisman winner he hugged when he went to accept the trophy.  Tebow was homeschooled by missionary parents who run an orphanage in the Philippines.  From his speech, it was clear that he also has great admiration for his parents, his coaches, and many other people who have played a role in his life.  It was also clear that Tebow worships God.  Tim Tebow has no shortage of heroes and role models who have shaped his life.  Unfortunately, it does not appear that the murderer had such positive role models.   

It is sad that, over the course of my lifetime, there has been a conscious effort to tear down and destroy heroes.  We knew that these heroes were flawed human beings, but still they exhibited characteristics that we admired and wanted to copy.  For example, we were taught to admire the integrity of George Washington.  There also were people in our communities who were not particularly famous but who exhibited character traits that we admired.   However, over the years, the hero-destroyers looked for the negatives in our heroes and sought to destroy their reputations and their hero status.  Their goal was to overturn all our old ideas and institutions in order to establish a new social order.

So, instead of admiring the integrity of George Washington, they pointed out that he owned slaves.  Some schools that had been named after Washington even changed their names as a result!  The hero destroyers were very successful.  But with no role models, no traditional values, and nothing to look up to, we have ended up with many more people like the shopping mall murderer, who wanted to end his own life and decided it would be nice to take a group of people along with him.

I am thankful that, despite the best efforts of the hero destroyers, some young people, like Tim Tebow, still have heroes and role models and still believe there are character traits and values worth emulating.  Some of those people can be found in the sports arena, where traits like hard work and good sportsmanship still matter.  We could do a lot worse than for Tim Tebow to become a role model for others, and in the process, maybe he will help restore our belief in heroes.

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