Did you know this man, age 26, earns about $630,000 a year, loves fast cars, beautiful women and high-powered guns? Loving fast cars, beautiful women and high-powered guns might not be that surprising for a young man in his 20s. What might be surprising is that this young man receives so much income per year? How many 26-year-old men do you know earn that much money per year? For that matter, how many disabled men do you know earn that amount of money per year? When was the last time you earned or made $630,000 in a year? And, how did he earn it? He did what, he ran around a track. You must be kidding.
What about Lance Armstrong and his earnings prior to his fall from grace. This man, in his early 40s, acquired millions of dollars during his career of riding a bicycle. I don’t know the exact figures but Lance had tremendous amounts of capital as a result of endorsements, winnings etc. How many young men do you now in their 40s acquired as much capital, in a short lifetime, as he did? And, what did he do to earn so much money? He rode a bike. Wow! Certainly these two young men did not follow the traditional formula of graduating from college, going to work 9-5, Monday –Friday, establishing a 401 account, saving like practically everyone else in our capitalistic system. These men, with a physical illness/disability did not fit the mold. They ran, they rode, trained hard, won and received enormous capital through endorsements etc. Yes, they are exceptional athletes.
So the big business, economic sports world helped create images or illusions about these two men. They quickly were made into idols and received large amounts of income from big business in order to market, endorse, and sell various products by their testimonials. Notice neither character, intelligence, altruistic nor loving qualities were marketed. Still, the public wanted to physically touch them, be around them, fawn over them and associate with them in order to feel good. That was then. The quick change in admiration, by the public sponsors, was fast and lethal. The fall from grace was a free fall.
We have to ask ourselves the question “do we really admire these young phenom or do we actually resent and are jealous and envious of their economic fortune, success or fame? “ If convicted, it’s easy to acknowledge resentment for Oscar for killing his attractive girlfriend. However for Lance, he did not commit a crime that would incarcerate him. Yes he lied and cheated. And now we have justification (our resentment now becomes conscious) like Nike to throw him under the bus. Some of us probably delight in his fall. However, lying and cheating is fairly common nowadays. For example when reading the Wall Street Journal it is common to find articles about some criminal probe, some scandal or some questionable business or government wrongdoing taking place.
My premise is that underneath (unconscious) the surface for hero establishing and worshiping is a different story. It is apparent that hero worshiping is not based on the wonderful human –family qualities of the individual. It is actually not about the real or authentic them that we worship. This worshiping behavior is based on something lacking within ourselves. It is really about us and our personality. This hero worshiping behavior is a temporary escape from feeling insignificant, small, powerlessness, in being just a speck in this all-powerful fear-based world with its myriad of natural and human problems. These unconscious feelings are generally unavailable and masked from our awareness. Therefore, we seek others to fulfill what we lack. So now we can be important, powerful or worthy by identifying with these famous others who are more significant and more powerful than us.
This hero-idol worshiping behavior also allows for escape from day to day sameness. Escape exhibits itself in many different forms and outlets. We may, for example, buy assault weapons, yell and scream at sporting events, music concerts or political gatherings and temporarily lose ourselves in the process. Just watch a program like American Idol on TV and listen to all the screaming people. This energy allows everybody in the room to get caught up in the moment and escape , for an hour or two ,from common, ordinary and everyday life .This deficiency , deficit or need states is unconscious and thus escape and worshipping behavior gives us temporary satisfaction .Unfortunately, it doesn’t fill us up nor is not long-lasting. This pill doesn’t have a half-life. This pill doesn’t work to fulfill or resolve inadequate feelings. So we continue to prop up flawed humans on a pedestal over and over and find mechanisms for escape. Yet, we remain with our own discomfort and underlying issues since idols/escape is not the answer but merrily a short term fix.
I suggest that you chose your idols carefully and wisely
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