We all have them, and we all do it, and we probably shouldn’t, but it’s human nature.

Looking up to some one else.

Guidance, style, attitude, work ethic, we get those from people we respect, and sometimes, as it should be, people we love.

My Dad and my brother, Charlie are two of my heroes.

Neither has let me down.

But, we have others out there.

National Heroes, personal heroes, people we admire and respect.

They’re all human, every man has the capability to falter, fall, and fail.

We can’t let it get to us.

And we can’t pick the wrong heroes.

I admired Jonnny Bench, I respected Pete Rose (and I still think he belongs in the Hall of Fame – so Selig, get over it!), but they both let me down.

Johnny said, “I want a whore in the bedroom and a maid in the kitchen.” Great take on what he wanted for a wife!

Pete, well, we all know what Pete did.

There are others.

We’re supposed to respect the person in the White House, the Mayor, the Principal, the Pastor.

But, again, they are all human.

They all CAN fail, even if they never do, or never get caught.

Charles Lindbergh, the first man to make a TransAtlantic flight, testified before the US Congress and recommended that the United State netotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler!

Thomas Jefferson, or his offspring (no one knows for sure) may have fathered a child or children by a slave.

Henry Ford gave us the assembly line, got America moving, and created an industry.  But he was a rabid Anti-Semite who funded horrific publications.

Ben Franklin never married his life long companion, and had a son with her.

Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Swaggart, Richard Nixon.

Naughty, naughty, naughty!

and on and on and on.

The question arises, “Are we picking the right people?”

Probably not.

John Glenn was my hero when I was a child.  I was crazy for the space program, and still feel that it is the second most important “thing” of the 20th century.  (The Interstate Highway System is the first.)

But John Glenn got into politics. compromised, made deals, and I was dissappointed.

It wasn’t John Glenn’s fault, it was mine.

Look close by for your heroes, and never put too much faith in a man.