On Role Models OR “What’s Right With This Guy?”

Ok, completely non-technical personal post today.  I’ve become increasingly frustrated over the years, more so now that I have a small child, at how individuals and society at large select role models.  In particular I’m troubled by the tendency to put a movie star or a sports legend on a pedestal because they’re famous and have a lot of money.  This is usually done with little regard for the often public personal failings of said role models.  We elevate Elvis Presley to the status of god come down to earth and wonder why our kid has a drug problem.  We hang posters of Kobe (women), Gooden (drugs), and Burress (guns)in our child’s room and then marvel at how kids today could have ever gone so wrong.  Is anyone else as completely UNSURPRISED as I am?

Perhaps Sir Charles said it best:

“I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on a basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I can dunk a basketball, that doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”

And before you pile on…yes, I am aware of the irony of calling out this excellent quote while Charles Barkley is being prosecuted on suspicion of DUI.  I assert that the quote still holds and its an excellent one.

Let’s switch gears for a second…now that I’ve ranted on why sports figures and other famous people shouldn’t be de-facto role models without some other qualifying personal trait, let’s consider the following story.  A young kid from Princeton, NJ is the top ranked high school football player in 2006.  He winds up playing football for Florida State on an athletic scholarship.  While at FSU he completes his BS degree in 2.5 years and moves on to an MPA degree.  He’ll graduate (again) this year, his final year of football eligibility.  He started every game except one at safety this year for FSU and is likely to be one of the top 50 picks in the NFL draft.  Why is that important?  Because top 50 means big bux folks.  This guy has all the football accolades anyone could wish for.  But ladies and gentlemen, Myron Rolle isn’t entering the NFL draft…he’s going to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship to study Medical Anthropology and he wants to be a doctor.  What’s right with this guy?  Turns out in high school he played the sax in the band, sang in a school musical, edited the school paper, and went on to maintain a 4.0 average in college…in short, he recognized that there’s more to life than a pigskin and a million bucks. 

So the next time your son or daughter or niece or nephew wants to hang a poster on the wall or spend an exorbitant sum on their idol’s sports jersey, buy ‘em a Florida State Jersey and tell them the story of Myron Rolle.  Sure, there are still plenty of pifalls in front of this kid as he heads out into the world, but I’m rooting for this guy and you should too.  Time will tell if his reputation remains unblemished but he seems to have a head on his shoulders.

And by the way…that one game that Myron Rolle didn’t start at safety for FSU this season…he showed up late.  No he didn’t oversleep or miss the team plane…he was interviewing for his Rhodes Scholarship.  Bravo.