Hero Worship

ABC Daytime has an annual event called "Fan February," where fans can win a chance at a walk-on role on their favorite soap opera. I didn't win this year, but I was filled with a sense of relief when I saw the winners on tv. Yeah, they were cute and a little on the ditzy side. I saw them interact with the soap stars and it just looked extremely fake. It was completely phony, like the stars would roll their eyes and say mean things about the fans when the cameras stopped rolling. If it were me, I'd be crushed. One of the fans called one of the stars her hero.

Everyone has someone who they look up to. We call them heroes. We put our heroes up on pedestals as reminders that we're capable of doing great things. I think that a hero's purpose is to inspire people to do the things they think they can't do. But what happens when your hero is a person and you meet that person? It's a catastrophe in the making, is what it is!

I was a huge baseball fan when I was a kid and I almost crapped my pants when I heard that Barry Bonds was going to visit our elementary school. I imagined him to be a paragon of excellence - not only in sports, but in public relations. He'd always be smiling and laughing with reporters and fans and everyone looked like they were having such a good time when they were around him. The sad truth is that Barry showed up to our school LATE and TIRED. He didn't sign any autographs and only stayed for an hour. I didn't get to meet him and I didn't want to meet him after all of the hullabaloo. Good lord, he was 3 hours late and he looked like he slept in the street. That's so gross to me. When you're able to see your hero on his or her pedestal from your own pedestal, the lure is somewhat dissolved.

To avoid the disappointment, I try to idolize fictional characters or things in nature. They can't disappoint you because they're not human. The word 'human' is synonymous with limits and boundaries. If you ask me who my heroes are, I'd tell you that I love Superman and Sea Turtles... and you can laugh all you want. But how many planets have you saved? And how many times have you avoided perils as you made your way from the beach to the ocean in order to start your life unshielded from the predators and natural enemies? Hmm?