Sunday, February 05, 2012

"Where Have All the Good Men Gone?"

I was listening to the radio the other day and a song sung by Frou Frou came on entitled, "Holding Out for a Hero" and it dawned on me, where are all the good men, moreover, where are the values, and characteristics that you find in said men?

I grew up on a solid dose of cartoons, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and even Gargoyles. What did all of these men and creatures share in common? Integrity, character, the desire and purpose to defend and protect the weak and innocent. Superman himself was the symbol of "Truth, Justice, and the American way". He's been the depiction of said symbols since 1938. And we all know Uncle Ben's line from Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility." He, Batman, aka the Caped Crusader, and even the Gargoyles stood for what was right and good in this world. Protecting, serving, and seeking out all the injustice in the world. So... where are those Heros now? What do we see in the media today? Tai Chi Chasers, Yu Gi Oh and its spin offs, pokemon? Cards and Chi, Electronic battles, Spongebob??

After my cartoon indoctrination, the next non family/friend source was college. I've seen it at nearly every college, "The school values". Each school has them, something like, "integrity, fairness, respect, and responsibility" no doubt. Then if you're willing, the military. Here you have the LDRSHIP Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. But by this time, isn't it perhaps a little too late to try "teaching" these traits? Shouldn't most people at this time be exemplifying these traits rather than learning them?

At least in my own point of view, I've noticed a severe propensity for people to do what they want when they want, despite what's required of them. Get what they want with no down time and no consequences. I grew up with the adage, "We do the things we don't want to, so that we can do the things that we do." But now I see most with a, "Why do today, what I can put off till tomorrow" mindset. Many of the men I see around me lack a self discipline as well as a level of personal courage to do what they know to be right; to stand up, speak out, act out, shout out, when they are needed most. I don't know if the cause is public pressure, scrutiny, apathy, the fear of what others think, because they don't know what's right, or because they've had their testicles removed. Whatever the case may be, it needs to change. We need to bring back the best cartoons, bring back the backbone, bring back the will and desire to do good by others and ultimately wake up from our emasculated state.
*Soap box finished*

1 comment:

Katina Rae Hembree said...

Yes. This. All of it. My lady friends and I have been talking (ranting) about this lately. It is such a pervasive problem in the church right now. I was recently convicted to stop complaining and start praying. I'm glad that there are guys who are aware of it as well. :)