
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993                   TAG: 9312230295
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GLENN ROSE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT REAL HEROES

I READ with great interest the Dec. 13 Extra section article, ``How to explain Michael Jackson to your children'' by Susan Campbell of The Hartford Courant. I wasn't interested as one of his fans but with the timing of the article, coming as it does with Jackson embroiled in charges of sexual abuse, coming as it does f+ibecauseo he's embroiled in charges of sexual abuse.

Jackson should've been explained to children years ago, along with Michael Jordan, Madonna, Charles Barkley, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Arnold Schwarzenwhatever - and the list goes on.

This article was to inform parents on how to help children deal with a fallen icon, or, more accurately, a falling icon. We should have articles informing parents on how to help children choose their icons. How a society can so shape itself that an outrageously dressed, crotch-grabbing, hip-thrusting entertainer can become an object of respect and admiration while garnering an obscene amount of money is beyond my poor ability to comprehend.

Are great moves on a basketball court or football field what we really look for in human accomplishment? Is the ability to create a fantasy world that satisfies our violent tendencies and desires for instant gratification and retribution a talent worthy of emulation? Do we want our children's greatest dream to be to see themselves at the center of an orgiastic celebration of hedonism and trivial sex, with strobe lights and a screaming mob? If Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Saddam Hussein could sell soda pop, would we see a molding by the media and H. L. Mencken's ``boobsgeoisie'' of the next American hero? Hyperbole, perhaps, but on the fringe Charles Manson does sell T-shirts.

A culture that worships celebrities solely because of their star status has gone dangerously awry. The wrong people are carrying the melody of our song when the lead is awarded on popularity and not substance. Our children f+idoo have something that needs to be explained to them. f+iWeo have something that needs to be explained to us!

There's no dearth of real heroes to worship. There are Mother Teresas, Terry Waites and Nelson Mandelas in our world. There are the faceless volunteers in Somalia, Bosnia and the inner cities of America. There are the unnamed idealists of Tiananmen Square and the Soviet gulag. There are the millions of anonymous mothers and fathers who go to work every day and ``play hurt,'' in the vernacular of the sports arena, to put food on the table, clothes on the backs and hopes in the hearts of their children, and who can't afford the self-indulgence of multimillion-dollar mansions with private zoos and impenetrable security systems. Perhaps if they could get a shoe endorsement ...

Glenn Rose of Lexington runs a small business in Rockbridge County.

by CNB