Heroic Choices

(Pro 2:20 KJV) That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

Recently the untimely death of a famous athlete was in the news.  It really doesn’t matter who he was.  I knew the name but nothing about him.  As expected, some of the headlines were about the glowing and tear rendering praises heaped upon him at the funeral and memorial services.  Were they deserved?  I have no idea.  What bothered me more was the number of people who talked about him as if he were a great hero, someone to be emulated. 

He was an athlete.  He had a combination of specific skills that made him a whiz at playing a sport.  Those skills might have made him useless in another sport.  Either way this is not enough to make him a hero.  We need to get over spending so much time praising quarterbacks, forwards and short stops.  They make the world a better place by taking people’s minds off of the struggles of life but they don’t really improve anyone’s life.

So?  Look for heroes among those who model goodness and righteousness.  We don’t need more great pitchers, we need more great fathers.  You also have a much better chance of being the latter, unless you are a woman, of course.