"I never heard the boos because I never heard the cheers."
--Bill Russell
What is really intriguing about the process of herofication is the need on the part of some people, apparently not a small number of people, to deify other human beings. Mothers who invite a priest over for dinner feel so thrilled, or at least they once did, if those scenes from Madmen are at all true.
I've certainly seen that willful urge to invest doctors with powers and goodness they do not possess. Some people just want to believe in Santa Claus, and they get really angry when they find no human being is really all that powerful or flawless.
So we erect statues and tear them down.
And we make Babe Ruth a "role model." Don't you just love that idea, "role model?"
I guess Joe Paterno was a role model for decades. Now, not so much.
But was that Paterno's fault?
Or was it a problem with those who needed the role model?
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