As Brett Favre steps down it makes you wonder he fits within the realm of the Packers...
Is he the greatest symbol of the Packers? Is Bart Starr? Vince Lombardi? Don Hutson? Curly Lambeau?
I would probably shoot for Lambeau being the father of it all, Lombardi as the Godfather of the organization, and the rest of the players as kings and judges if we want to get all biblical here.
Every organization has its heroes. I think the Packers are no different and I admire how well they cultivate them. Our world needs more heroes. People we can admire and look up to. People of honor and virtue. I find it one of the compelling reasons to belong to the Catholic Church. As part of its organizational strucutre it provides me with a myriad of people who ruminated and deliberated about the existence of God. To be part of a tradition and to feel part of something larger than yourself is a wonderful feeling. It was the same feeling I had playing Marquette High football. This sincere connection to the people who had played before me and the meaning behind the horns on the helmet.
Who are some of your heroes? In what traditions do you follow? How does it make you feel?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
So I think this might head in a slightly different direction than you intended, but I wrote it anyways:
No offense to the Catholic Church intended, but if you look at some of the cathedrals, golden ornaments and paintings it's apparant that there were some people that were more concerned with worldly possessions and wealth than the greater good. Corruption occurs everywhere which is why it's important to have good examples of character. I do believe that churches (at least in the US) foster a great sense of community and contribute to the greater good of society through volunteering, service work and donations.
I have always found the question of heroes or role models interesting because I've never had an answer to the question of who mine are. I'm not sure what that's a sign of but I always wondered if it's a just me thing that when we had to write about who our heroes were in middle school / high school I'd spend hours to find someone and then proceed to make up why they'd be my hero.
If you look at the news chances are that they'll be talking about something negative because it sells better. I think that as a kid I decided to ignore anyone famous / powerful because generally they are quite poor role models and decided to lead my life as I saw fit. I tend to believe change is good so I can't say I really follow any traditions for that matter either.
I was awestruck by the French/Italian cathedrals that I saw. They were everywhere and they were all huge and extravagant. I really felt like I should have needed to pay money to go into some of them. In no way did I feel religious at all when going through them, to me it just represented the immense power, wealth, and influence that the Catholic Church used to have. I didn't feel so proud of my Catholic heritage after that, I just became curious about the true history of the places, which of course you wouldn't actually find in them, as people are there to pray, not get a lesson in medieval Church corruption.
I also had issues with heroes in elementary/middle school. Some people have very designated heroes, there are superheroes like Superman and Batman or even the Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I wasn't really into that. Or, there are historical figures that you could look up to.
Being huge into sports, you would think I would have written about some sports hero, but I really didn't. I loved only the Milwaukee Brewers--and the Brewers of the 90's didn't have an amazing player. I loved them anyway, and was happy to pay money to see them, but each player had his strengths and his flaws, just like any human being. So I liked them, but I was probably right in not going to crazy about them--because your hero could easily get traded to a different team--or get arrested for drunk driving--or leave and then talk smack about Milwaukee--or turn out to be a pervert--all of which have happened to 1990s Brewers players.
So, the person that I did write about was my Dad--and that was true then and still holds true today. Even though I am more aware of his flaws now than before, I still look up to him and he is the first person that I go to if I need any advice. I feel like I can trust him with anything and that he will do everything in his power to help me. So that's what makes a hero to me--someone more personal than a sports star.
As Charles Barkley said, "I am not a role model...parents should be role models."
Post a Comment