Flawed heroes

There's something very dangerous about hero worship in my view.

Often we are presented with a fairly narrow and one-dimensional impression of a person and of course we just get the positives.

Sports stars are heralded as great role models for kids, visiting schools to advocate the virtues of exercise, healthy eating and setting goals.

Film stars often directly play heroes, like Val Kilmer playing Batman for example. But it can be confusing for kids. Especially when the heroes fall from grace.

Sometimes it's something as stupid as Tom Cruise jumping on the sofa, making people wonder whether he has any credibility or integrity left. I personally don't think it was the worst thing ever done on TV.

Other times it's daft stuff like that kid from The Sopranos, Robert Iler, robbing people in Central Park in New York. Then you have Winona Ryder shoplifting.

More obscure examples might include the Olympic skier who was stripped of his medals after failing a drugs test. Time to lay low. Not this guy. Apparently he had been seeing Aliens and they were responsible somehow for the failed drug test.

What got me thinking about this today was a story in the news today about a former Rugby player who has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering his wife. This guy is very well known in sporting circles, being a former captain of the French Rubgy team.

He doesn't to this day know what possessed him to go home and fetch a pistol and then shoot his wife in front of something like 60 terrified people.

Heroes have their flaws too like the rest of us. They just have further to drop.