When the Heros in Your Life Let You Down

Everyone has Hero's in their lives.

We grow up looking up to people, both fictitious and non-fictitious. Starting with our parents, we seem to hold certain people up to higher expectations than others. Your first superhero is your mother or father, and they seem to be the Sun, Moon and the Stars to you.

Until the day they let you down...

I think the reason why we have invented Super Hero's is the simple fact that we can create and control everything that they do. They are a product of our imagination, that will listen to every detail of how they are to react in any situation. They can be altruistic, and giving, and touch the lives of every person in the world without ever having a bad day.

I think that this is almost something impossible to follow though. Being human, we are going to have bad days, we are going to make mistakes, and we are going to hurt people. -That's a fact. It is reasonable to expect that someone we admire, or look up to is going to be that ideal of perfection that our Super Hero's have?

I remember listening to a song by the Rock group Styx when I was a teenager. The song was called "Show Me the Way" and the first part of the lyrics really spoke to me. They said:


"Every night I say a prayer in the hope(s) that there's a heaven.

and everyday I'm more confused as the saints turn into sinners.

All the heroes and legends I knew as a child, have fallen to idols of clay

And I feel this empty place inside so afraid that I've lost my faith"



I love this song. It gives me solace that my hero's won't let me down. Even though that is never the case.

I think every person that I know has felt this way at one time or another in their lives. Whether it is the person we admire letting us down, or us having the expectation that is let down, it is inevitable that this will happen.

But this feeling is compounded when that person whom we really admire is compromised. Say, like our Leaders, or Pro Athletes, Celebrities, Actor's, Ministers, Teachers, and others. We have such huge expectations from them. The saying "To much given, much is expected" seems to resonate with us, and when they let us down for whatever reason, it disillusions our world.

I hate the feeling of disappointment. I hate when I disappoint someone almost the same as when someone really disappoints me. Simply because it is SUCH an emotionally draining experience. There could be 10 positive people who inspire you, but all it takes is that one person to do something horrible, and it ruins all the positivity in your world.

So what do you do?

Do you forgive and move on? Do you find new friends and new hero's? How do you fix something that meant so much to you?