Hey, Cover Girl
I wrote this article about those women's magazines you see at supermarket checkouts.
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Real Hero
This article is about those phony Hollywood movie star heroes.
Many women feel pressured to focus much of their time on their appearances to attract attention and live up to cover girl standards. The same is true for guys who use weight training and protein drinks to beef up to mirror the ripped actors they see in action films.
As a teenager, I idolized movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean Claude Van Damme. Their bulging biceps and explosive firepower left me hungry to blow up something Communist and kept me watching their movies over and over again.
In those movies the testosterone meter was through the roof and the more missiles, exploding tanks, and roundhouse kicks, the better. For me, movies defined a hero as a man with overpowering physical presence who carried a lot of guns, was immune to fear, was unfazed by shrapnel, and rarely ate or slept. You never saw indecisiveness or panic attacks in these guys, because from Captain Kirk to Bruce Lee, they were always winning to the end credits.
During my twenties, I started traveling the world wearing my Indiana Jones hat going from one adventure to another, while seeking a Mordor to conquer or Vietnam vets to rescue. As the years went by, I realized life's realities didn't match the movie scripts my exemplars followed. Unlike them, I failed at learning foreign languages easily, struggled with unemployment, suffered long-term physical injuries that interfered with my body building, and found that globetrotting and adventuring didn't compare to the stable family life other men had.
I felt betrayed by movies that seduced me with their musical scores and choreographed fight scenes, portraying violence in an artistic way. I realized many Hollywood heroes lacked true virtue, mercy, compassion, and faith in God. Instead they had indecent relationships with women, they sought vengeance and glorified violence and they distorted in young impressionable minds what a true hero looks like.
Every man desires to be a hero, but what is the mold that they're cast from and who is the original model? After a series of trials, including losing my job and feeling hopeless, I was thrown into a pit and sank into darkness. I was unable to help myself. A hero wants everyone to admire their vast display of power, while I, weak and scared, wanted to be hidden. Unlike John McClane or Mad Max, my worries about the future and mistakes from my past held me prisoner. I found my limitations crushing.
Movie heroes depend on no one, but I couldn't get out of the pit alone. The pain became so bad, the nightmare so real, that I cried in desperation to a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hanging on my wall, "What do you want me to do?" I cried unheroically and laid down, defeated. The next day I got a phone call about a job. That phone call was the hand that pulled me out of the pit and brought me back to life. As I hung up the phone, I stared in awe at the same picture of Jesus. Jesus found true worth in me when I didn't.
We don't need another hero. Jesus is the only real hero, and although He doesn't bristle with muscles, nor gleam with armor, nor one arm an M-60, He saves us when we cry out to Him, in all the many ways He can. He shows Himself in the darkness and casts away our fears with His light. He washes away our sins with His blood, heals us with His wounds, restores us with His Sacraments, and guides us with inspirations. What would our world be like if all heroes acted like Him, were cut from His mold instead of being the phony versions?
Real heroes strive for virtue, takes care of their families, stand up for the weak, honor women, and when they are overwhelmed, drops to their knees in prayer.
For the guys who didn't get the girl, never hit the ball over the fence, or missed the game winning jumper, don't worry. If you blew itand ended up in a pit, don't give up. Remember that in one prayer, God can save you too, teaching us all once again, who the real Hero is.
Many women feel pressured to focus much of their time on their appearances to attract attention and live up to cover girl standards. The same is true for guys who use weight training and protein drinks to beef up to mirror the ripped actors they see in action films.
As a teenager, I idolized movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean Claude Van Damme. Their bulging biceps and explosive firepower left me hungry to blow up something Communist and kept me watching their movies over and over again.
In those movies the testosterone meter was through the roof and the more missiles, exploding tanks, and roundhouse kicks, the better. For me, movies defined a hero as a man with overpowering physical presence who carried a lot of guns, was immune to fear, was unfazed by shrapnel, and rarely ate or slept. You never saw indecisiveness or panic attacks in these guys, because from Captain Kirk to Bruce Lee, they were always winning to the end credits.
During my twenties, I started traveling the world wearing my Indiana Jones hat going from one adventure to another, while seeking a Mordor to conquer or Vietnam vets to rescue. As the years went by, I realized life's realities didn't match the movie scripts my exemplars followed. Unlike them, I failed at learning foreign languages easily, struggled with unemployment, suffered long-term physical injuries that interfered with my body building, and found that globetrotting and adventuring didn't compare to the stable family life other men had.
I felt betrayed by movies that seduced me with their musical scores and choreographed fight scenes, portraying violence in an artistic way. I realized many Hollywood heroes lacked true virtue, mercy, compassion, and faith in God. Instead they had indecent relationships with women, they sought vengeance and glorified violence and they distorted in young impressionable minds what a true hero looks like.
Every man desires to be a hero, but what is the mold that they're cast from and who is the original model? After a series of trials, including losing my job and feeling hopeless, I was thrown into a pit and sank into darkness. I was unable to help myself. A hero wants everyone to admire their vast display of power, while I, weak and scared, wanted to be hidden. Unlike John McClane or Mad Max, my worries about the future and mistakes from my past held me prisoner. I found my limitations crushing.
Movie heroes depend on no one, but I couldn't get out of the pit alone. The pain became so bad, the nightmare so real, that I cried in desperation to a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hanging on my wall, "What do you want me to do?" I cried unheroically and laid down, defeated. The next day I got a phone call about a job. That phone call was the hand that pulled me out of the pit and brought me back to life. As I hung up the phone, I stared in awe at the same picture of Jesus. Jesus found true worth in me when I didn't.
We don't need another hero. Jesus is the only real hero, and although He doesn't bristle with muscles, nor gleam with armor, nor one arm an M-60, He saves us when we cry out to Him, in all the many ways He can. He shows Himself in the darkness and casts away our fears with His light. He washes away our sins with His blood, heals us with His wounds, restores us with His Sacraments, and guides us with inspirations. What would our world be like if all heroes acted like Him, were cut from His mold instead of being the phony versions?
Real heroes strive for virtue, takes care of their families, stand up for the weak, honor women, and when they are overwhelmed, drops to their knees in prayer.
For the guys who didn't get the girl, never hit the ball over the fence, or missed the game winning jumper, don't worry. If you blew itand ended up in a pit, don't give up. Remember that in one prayer, God can save you too, teaching us all once again, who the real Hero is.
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