Flawed Heroes

Nobody's perfect. That's something that I've been constantly reminded of recently. Not even celebrities that so many people (myself included) so often elevate to such a high pedestal.

One of the most recent celebs to "fall from grace" is Tom Chaplin, the Keane singer, who is now in rehab. I'd built him up in my own mind in a way as I'm a huge Keane fan. He's got an amazing voice and is an integral part of a band that's produced some awesome music (in my opinion!), with so many things going for them. Keane have always had such a positive image - they tried to refrain from dissing other bands and so on. Because of this they were accused of being boring and ironically the media are probably happier now that their human-ness has been exposed!

Pete Doherty is recognised by many as one of the greatest song-writers of recent years. His struggles have been headline news in the last year or two though. Such is the extent of his drug-related problems now that many of his fans now daren't miss a gig in case it's his last.

Zinedine Zidane is to many people one of the finest footballers the world has ever seen. I totally agree - he has elements of genius about him, he would do things that no one else could do. He was certainly a flawed genius though. He was sent off a number of times, 2 of which stand out in my memory. The first was for stamping in the 1998 world cup - an act of malice if ever there was one. The second is now one of the most infamous sendings off of all time. In this summer's world cup final, with a few minutes remaining in extra time, Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in retaliation to a comment that Materazzi made. Zidane had already announced his retirement, so that was the very last act of his career. So, Zidane: a fantasically skilled sportsman, but by no means perfect.

Charles Kennedy, former Lib Dem leader, had the respect of many, but people were quick to turn against him after it emerged that he was suffering from a drinking problem. He was quickly replaced as leader and little has been heard of him since. It wasn't long ago that he was being heralded as an inspiring potential leader of our nation.

I could go on and on - it seems almost every week there's another celebrity scandal in the tabloids. It seems that the media (or at least certain parts of it) take great joy in building people up to knock them down again. But why shouldn't they? These journalists are only human and so it's unsurprising that where it's possible to feel better about yourself by showing that others aren't all they're cracked up to be, that some will take the opportunity (here the incident with Chris Martin - who has a pretty squeaky clean image - punching a journalist who "got to him" springs to mind) . If I'm honest, I think I like to know that these guys stuff up too. I like to know that they're human. It must hurt a lot of celebs that their flaws/mistakes are pointed out in such a public way ... just one of the prices of being famous I guess.

To the same degree I know that I occasionally build myself up as something of a hero and am audacious enough to mistakenly think that I'm without flaw. Even though such a mindset is usually only maintained for a short length of time it's one I can do without as it is a totally false one. I like to put on a mask and pretend that I'm better than I am. Often when things fall apart I'm brought down-to-earth with a crash. Thus whilst I can aspire to do heroic things, I'll always be flawed. But I can draw great strength from knowing that God loves me oodles despite these flaws! :) And I know that God can change me to chip away at these imperfections (in theological language I guess this is the sanctification after the justification bit if that means anything to anyone :P)

So why have have I been thinking about heroes and about the notion of flawed heroes? Probably in part because of press coverage of people like Tom Chaplin and certainly partly because of having a theme of superheroes for a week of children's summer holiday clubs that I helped with earlier this summer. However, I think it was also to a degree down to me reading the following quote, which I think sums things up quite nicely (it's from a book called "The Life" by J John - seems like a good read, although I'm only part way through it at the moment):

"We live in hard times for heroes. There is a cynicism in our culture that eats away at even the most glorious reputations. Almost overnight, selfless geniuses turn out to be selfish fools, great leaders are revealed as insecure bullies and champions of morality are exposed as hypocrites. One of the few figures to survive with their reputation intact is Jesus Christ."