A Lesson In Humanity

photo courtesy of panachereport.com

When heroes fall, we sometimes want to place the blame on anyone or anything but the hero or heroine in this case. Marion Jones, the 5 time Olympic Medal winner admitted to using steroids before the 2000 Olympic games where she won those trophies. I must admit that I never thought she'd be the poster child for illegal drug use. She's sweet, a media darling and faster than any woman. I'm sure there are a lot of young women and girls out there who are now lamenting a shattered dream. This is a lesson in humanity. Heroes, our heroes, are human. They make mistakes and bleed just like the rest of us. They are not immortal or free from the laws of nature or the government. It is a shame to see how things transpired but Marion Jones had a choice just like the rest of us. She chose a path that she shouldn't have. Hopefully we all can take a lesson from this--that lesson being, to not set heroes on a pedestal too high. Inevitably, they will fall and the drop is much worse when the perch is unreachable.

photo courtesy of www.cbc.ca

You can't go anywhere or look at any news program without the mention of Britney Spears and her personal issues. The latest big item is the loss of custody of her two young boys. I must admit that when her downward spiral began, I was intrigued much like the rest of the world. But looking over the whole thing, it's a sad situation really. A young girl who grew up in the media and had a life unlike many of us. I won't pass judgement on her choices because I'm not in her head nor do I gravitate in her circle. The thing is, she is human. Celebrities are human and the world somehow seems to forget that when there are situations. I only hope that things can turn around for her. For her sake and that of two little ones.

So he doesn't want to wear a pin on his lapel. Why does that matter? I'll tell you why it matters, it's election season and any excuse to deter from the most important things that matter is media gold. Barack Obama stated that he would no longer wear the U.S. Flag pin in remembrance of September 11 to show his patriotism. He says he'd rather "walk the walk" to show how he feels about it (patriotism). In humane? Hardly. I think it's inhumane to not concentrate on the issues that are affecting our nation and threatening our blind freedom. If people spent this much time caring about the "real issues" as they do "Pingate" then I'd have hope for our future.

I like most get caught up in figures that seem bigger than the sky. But the truth is, they're not. They're just like you and me with perks. Marion Jones gave up "staying clean" to win and lost in the end. Britney gave up a normal childhood for Hollywood fame only to lose herself. Barack stopped wearing a pin and possibly lost some votes from those that won't dig a little deeper. But that's ok, we win sometimes, we lose sometimes. Through it all we are human.

photo courtesy of www.smh.com