Who Are Your Heroes?

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I’m not much of a celebrity watcher, subscribing to the cliché that celebrities “put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us (assuming we wear pants).”

 

But I came across a 2012 interview of actor Mark Wahlberg, recently placed on Facebook. I think of him as a tough guy, “heart-throb” actor who has appeared in movies such as The Italian Job, The Departed, The Perfect Storm and The Fighter. He’s been getting a lot of publicity lately because of his movie, The Gambler. Judging by the critics, it needs all the promotion it can get.

 

Anyway, Wahlberg, 43, used coke at age 13, was a gang member and was sent to prison at 16 after having been involved in racially motivated assaults, according to the interview. Growing up in Boston, he is from a family of nine children, several of whom have also served time.

 

At some point after prison, he changed. Here’s what he had to say about it.

 

“Once I focused on my faith, wonderful things started happening for me. And I don’t mean professionally – that’s not what it’s about.”  He told the interviewer he now attends Mass, or at least goes to church to pray, every day.

 

Interesting for a widely popular celebrity, many of whom seem shallow and self-centered. Oddly, he speaks easily about his faith in interviews, not seeming to be embarrassed, even though religion and faith are close to being taboo topics in such interviews. He doesn’t seem to mind that many people will place him on their “uncool” list.

 

Mark Wahlberg
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Many people are greatly impressed by celebrities like Wahlberg, and maybe what they say in such interviews can help people. Indeed, movie and TV stars, athletes and politicians are the heroes of society today.

 

President Obama was the “most admired” in 2013, followed by George Bush and Pope Francis, who were tied for second. But all the others on the list of a couple dozen men and women most admired were politicians, athletes and celebrities of one kind or another.

 

It leads to the question about what our heroes tell us about ourselves. Do the people we admire reflect our true values and beliefs? I believe they do to some extent. Admiration implies the desire to be like the person we admire, to emulate that person’s qualities.

 

So, do we usually see in most celebrities qualities such as integrity, self-discipline, kindness, compassion, honesty, and justice – the qualities that most people SAY they admire? Do most celebrities contribute greatly to the good of humanity? Not really, in my view.

 

For many, in fact, the most obnoxious and outrageous celebrities are the most admired. Why do so many of us admire people who appear to have no interest in doing what’s right? After all, doesn’t it take more “guts” to do what’s right, no matter what, rather than give in to greed, sexual promiscuity, egoism and selfishness?

 

Although there are notable and admirable exceptions, society seems to be stuck on admiration for the popular, the superficial, the outrageous, the trendy, “the next big thing.”

 

So, who are your heroes, the people you have most admired? Many will, of course, be people the rest of us will never have heard of – family members, friends and others who are non-celebrities. That’s true for me, at least.

 

But it got me thinking about the well-known people, past and present, whom I most admire and have most influenced me. It might be interesting for you to make your own list. 

 

·       Jesus. I know, this sounds shamelessly pious, but he can’t be left off any such list, even though he’s really in a category by himself. Among all else, he shows us how to be human.

·       Thomas Aquinas. I can’t say that I understood much of what he wrote, but I admire the fact that he took flak from his religious contemporaries of the 13^th century for exploring the scholarship of other cultures, specifically that of the Middle East. He was an incredibly productive scholar but was humble, reported to have said toward the end of his life that what he had written was “so much straw.” I consider him my “patron saint.”

·       Fyodor Dostoevsky, the 19^th century Russian journalist, novelist and philosopher. His novels, “Crime and Punishment,” “The Idiot” and “The Brothers Karamazov,” are among the best novels ever written - full of insights on faith, unbelief, God and life.

·       Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor and theologian. His book, “The Cost of Discipleship,” and his “Letters from Prison,” plus the fact that he paid for his faith with his life at the hands of the Nazis, changed my life.

·       Another of my heroes of the same era is Franz Yagerstatter, the Austrian Catholic layman who, unlike the priests and bishops who were his spiritual leaders, recognized Nazism for what it was. He was executed by the Nazis for being a conscientious objector.

·       Mohandas Gandhi, the Hindu non-violent leader of the Indian independence movement, who influenced people around the world, including our own Martin Luther King, in non-violent civil disobedience. A biography I read as a young man influenced me greatly.

·       Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known as Pope Francis. This former nightclub bouncer hasn’t been able to avoid becoming a celebrity. A more current list, if worldwide, might place him at the top. For many Catholics like me, he’s the great hope of our church.

 

You’ll notice that all my heroes are religious people. That reflects my background. But millions of people who may, or may not, be religious deserve to be considered heroes. To me, heroes should be people who contribute to the world’s well-being and reflect the best that’s in you. Even a celebrity, like Mark Wahlberg,  might qualify.