Where did the good people go?

posted October 19, 2009

by Jamie Blake of Campanile

My alarm clock screeches at 6:41 on Monday morning, just as it has every morning since the first day of freshman year. My morning routine has changed in small ways since then, part of which now includes a casual glance at the headlines on Yahoo! News and The New York Times online. The pages load and shine on my face, immediately awakening my senses and thoughts. My heart drops as I read the latest headlines: Kanye West embarrasses himself at the Video Music Awards, Bernie Madof has been charged with fraud for his ponzi scheme, American soldiers torture the "threats to the state" at Guantanamo Bay. Returning to bed is all too inviting after reading such negative stories, however school forces me out of the comfortable covers of my bed and into the world of what I just read. As I drive to school I am left to think about all of this and I am left with one grand, overarching conclusion about the state of our world and how it will affect the world we are about to live in. The lack of role models for our generation is astonishing and is detrimental to our society. It seems like everywhere I look, no matter the profession or circumstances, there is always a targeted person amidst a wave of controversy for their wayward behavior. Clear examples can be found everywhere you look. Take professional athletes for example. Look up Raiders Coach Tom Cable and read about him threatening the life and breaking the jaw of one of his assistants. This, from a man who is supposed to be leading a team and setting an example for each of his players? Rest assured, it is not only athletes. Former Governor Rob Blagoevich was caught selling the vacated senate seat when Barack Obama was elected president, a gross violation of the democratic values our society was built upon. This is the kind of behavior you would expect in feudal societies, not in America, the "land of the free". What about the situation involving former senator Larry Craig soliciting sodomy in an airport bathroom? How about Governor Elliot Spitzer and his exclusive prostitution ring in New York? Ted Stevens and his "gifts" from VECO resulting in his dismissal as the seventh longest tenured senator in our nations history? The guys over at AIG? Really? If you doubt that celebrities are terrible, horrible, malignant role models, maybe these names will jog your memory. Chris Brown. Kanye West. Amy Whinehouse. Russell Crowe. Michael Jackson, rest in peace. The world we live in needs a new crop of role models. I am glad that I didn't start reading the news daily until I was a junior simply because of the sad state our world is in. Where are the inspirational figures, fighting for what is right instead of trying to cover up their misdeeds? Past generations had men such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela to show them what it means to lead and fight for an ideal, something no one in our time has done in a responsible way (sorry, Michael Moore). Some may argue that the man for our youth is Nobel peace prize winning President Barack Obama. While his rhetoric is sweeping and graceful unlike any politician since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his lack of true action simply does not make him qualified to already be praised as the leader of our generation. I hope Barack Obama will become synonymous with the names above, but honestly, right now they are not on the same level. There is still hope, and it lies in the reactions we have as observers of the misconduct of our leaders. The next time you read a news story about financial fraud on Wall Street or a political scandal, do not skip to the sports section, but rather challenge what you are reading. Take action, do not accept the misbehavior and shenanigans that we have silently condoned thus far. Don't support artists whose actions outside of the recording studio are immature. Take local political action against politicians who have disgraced their elected positions. We as a generation must become our own role models, because, quite frankly, no one else has stepped up to the plate.