HEROES OR VILLAINS?

So many famous and influential people let us down - many do deeds so dastardly we are stunned to find out little we really know about them. Tiger Woods is just the latest. He will not be the last. What can we learn from it?


Heroes are those we look up to.
We magnify their positives.
We minimize their negatives.
We see gifts in them we wish we had.
A ready smile.
A winning personality.
The ability to throw or hit a ball.
The masterful way with words
To have people eating out of their hands.

When they fall
We forget the positives.
We are glad we are not like them after all.
Their sordid private lives.
Their seeming ungratefulness for all the favor and love.
The sudden putting into perspective of how things that
Seemed so important then now mean nothing at all.
The deck is empty, their place of prominence forgotten.
We do not turn the TV on to see them with eager anticipation.
We wait for someone else to believe in.

Villains are those we love to hate.
We ignore any redeeming greatness.
We magnify their smallest faults.
We see evil in them we dare not do.
Not because we are more righteous,
But because we are afraid of the consequences.
Their willingness to take foolish risks
Their devil-may-care attitude.
We know it leads to destruction but we love to watch.

When they are defeated, we have catharsis.
The evil is over, the men in the white hats win.
But we are not changed.
Only when we realize we are the villains
Can we become heroes.
Only when we see the qualities of greatness
That God has wrought in us
Can we be people, just people,
Who can change the world.