Being a Role Model

One of my heroes died recently.  His name was Bob Shubert and he spent most of his life living in our foothills.

Bob Shubert played high school football in 1965, when I was 12 years old and now, almost 50 years later, I still remember his football number.   (He was  #88.) Now THAT'S what you call making an impression.

Growing up, he was the coolest guy I knew.  Played the guitar.  Wore the cool clothes.  Had the cool hair.  But most important to me, he played football.  He was bigger than life for sure.

And there were others.  Peno Campbell, #30.  For some reason I remember numbers.  Pat Harper #20.  Butch Crabtree, #12.  DeFlabb (not his real name) Messamore #76.  

These were the guys that were enough older than me that I could look up to them and be in awe.  I'm not sure I could have spoken back to them if any of them had ever tried to talk to me.  I would have been completely blocked.

I watched the way they walked, the way they talked, the way they related to others.  If they jumped off the bridge, well, I would too.

Such is the influence that sports stars (and others) can have on young folks. We just simply cannot forget the impact we might have on others.

I remember when  Charles Barkley declared that he was no one's role model.  He didn't want that job.

Well, guess what...we don't have that choice.  Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, there's a chance that someone is watching how you behave.

Oh, maybe they're not looking at you as a role model, trying to copy your behaviors, mannerisms, and speech, but they're looking at you.  Maybe they're simply judging you for their own purposes.

Even those of you that know me well might not know how much I love music.  I used to sing in a gospel quartet and once upon a time played the trumpet (and can still play a decent harmonica) so I don't think I'm without some musical talent.

But I listen to music a lot.  My tastes are broad and might easily be called eclectic.  From Robinella to ZZ Ward.  Ingrid Michaelson to Old Crow Medicine Show. Rachmaninoff to Kenny Chesney.

And in my training room, I play music pretty much all the time, always from personal playlists.  This past fall, I was playing songs from an artist that I thought I liked.  But since there were teenagers in the room ,I started listening to the words.  Usually I just listen to the music and the beat.  I'm not looking for meaning or messages in music.

But I didn't like some of the words in these songs.   Nor the messages in his words.

I'm against censorship and know that we live in an imperfect world but I also believe that we have an obligation not to fill our heads with garbage.  If we hear a word or a phrase enough, I believe it becomes acceptable in our brains and then might come out in our words or deeds.  "Little ears, be careful what you hear...."

So that artist's stuff got deleted.  I don't want anybody, especially those young folks that I have a responsibility to, thinking it's OK with me and then that it's OK for them.

It's just all a part of that role model stuff.