Role Model

Recently a discussion was had about role models (courtesy of the family all-star weekend crew) and whether or not celebrities such as athletes or musicians are or should be role models. The common viewpoint on this is that they are whether they like it or not. We also had some dissent among the group and others suggested that they should not be and are not role models.

In most circumstances people never know the celebrity personally. Everyone agreed that people, especially adolescents are very impressionable. However, how can someone that you have never met have more influence on you than someone that you see everyday and know. People agreed that it is not the most sensible perspective, but that's the way it is. Why do people concede and say that's just the way it is. It doesn't have to be that way. We all agreed that it was relatively backwards, so why do people just accept the status quo. It seems like using other people is a way out. Accountability is the word of the day. This is something that is really aimed at parents and families. It does not seem logical for a parent to let someone that their child has never met have more influence on the child than the parent.

I came up just like the rest of my peers and was exposed to a lot of the same things. I was able to admire my favorite basketball players on the court and my favorite musicians on stage, but i could care less what they did off of their professional stage. I wouldn't care if Allen Iverson was the worst person in the world in 1996 (as you can imagine i was younger then), i liked what he did on the court and knew that there was a difference between admiring someones ability and admiring them as a person.

My family took accountability for me and made sure that i understood right and wrong, therefore i had not intentions of looking to celebs for life values or example figures.

One of the best points of the night was a that since "blank" has the power to influence lives why not use it for good. I agree with that wholeheartedly. However if that person isn't using their power for good then we should not be mad at them they just aren't worthy of being a role model ( it sounds like we are talking about super heroes). We are all human, and just like we say they should be doing a,b, and c, so should we, it just so happens that we are not on tv. We have to learn how to treat the situation and not allow people to put others on a pedestal for the wrong reasons. If we instill in people the proper values concerning what is right and what is wrong then they will be better equipped to make positive decisions. Everyone has to live with the decisions they make and the outcomes that occur, making a bad decision contingent upon someone else's bad decision is hogwash, especially if you do not know that person.

See, conversations like these take place when you are sitting on a Plush Red Sofa. Later folks!