Give Your Kids More Heroes Than Celebrities
We live in a celebrity culture. It seems that everyone wants the proverbial 15 minutes of fame. Attention spans are short, but the financial stakes of fame are still high, so people will do nearly anything to reach celebrity status.
And, sadly, our culture eats it up. We care about the latest gossip from Hollywood. We tune in to watch our favorite singers and stars talk about themselves. We follow, retweet, like, and favorite nearly anything they produce on social media.
But I want my children to understand the difference between celebrities and real heroes. Heroes may not get the wall-to-wall coverage, but they are the types of people I want my children to respect, honor, and learn from, far more than celebrities.
What are the differences? In other words, how does a hero differ from a celebrity? Here are a few.
Heroes Don’t Seek the Limelight; Celebrities Crave It. A hero will tell you that he or she is just doing their job or that they just want to be a normal person. Celebrities will do anything for headlines and time on the camera.
Heroes Share Thoughtfully-Considered Facts, but Only When Asked. A celebrity, on the other hand, will throw their opinion on any subject around and treat you like a fool if you do not receive their thoughts as settled scientific truth. A hero is the one doing the painstaking research and carefully considering the issue slowly and methodically. They might share their findings with peer-reviewed works, but they won’t tweet every time they think they have a novel idea.
Heroes Live Quiet Lives of Service; Celebrities Serve Loudly. Even when a hero must make a great sacrifice and moves into the spotlight for a moment, their real concern is just getting back to helping others in a more quiet, unassuming way. A celebrity will make sure their followers know what “good” they have done in the hopes that they can get more adulation.
Heroes Want to Live Next Door; Celebrities Don’t Want Anyone Next Door. Heroes are part of your community. They are on the PTA. They run a small business. They have a house next door and a little garden. They don’t mind you coming over for a chat or a glass of lemonade. Celebrities only want to be around other celebrities so they look “above” everyone else (if they want to be near anyone at all).
Heroes Don’t Want to Tell Their Story; Celebrities Never Stop Telling Theirs. Talk to a war veteran, a police officer, an elder in the church, or a stay-at-home mom. These heroes have stories that have changed lives, from very personal changes to possibly saving multiple lives. Yet, they do not want to share them, especially not unprompted. They just want to do what they do. Celebrities are always talking about “how hard” the work was to make a movie or the “endless hours” spent making an album. (Give me a break.)
For the sake of your kids, have them spend more time with heroes. Teach them to listen and to ask really good questions. Let them learn from those who have thoughtful wisdom to share, and not just tweetable opinions. Make sure they hear from those who have white hair and that they really consider what service and sacrifice means.
They may just learn how to be a hero themselves…but you’ll have to ask them about it, because they won’t be shouting it from the digital mountaintop.
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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
