Humanitarianism or what?

There is nothing more relaxing than sleeping in on a Sunday, falling out of bed when you decide to and reading the morning newspaper. This weekend was a perfect example of ‘chillaxing’ for me and I lazily browsed the Herald-Sun. Of course it is heavy on the Australian Open at the moment and there was a large bio about Roger Federer. Now he is the penultimate babe. Loving family man, champion sport star, and he is girdled with a body that can only be described as mmmm. The problem I face is I just don’t care what his opinion is about life, fashion, and fine dining. I grow tired very quickly with the article and I can’t even finish it. Sports stars are just that. Sports stars. What can they possibly teach me about life? They are awesome at what they do but as far as anything that contains substance I doubt they are qualified.

Do I use athletes as role models for my children? No. Never. Only if it’s in the context of their sporting skill. Is being the best at sport worth anything other than money? It should. It should be about fun, health, participation, confidence building skills, teamwork, etc. Disappointingly that’s not what it’s promoted as. Athletes are made almost God-like by certain media campaigns. Consider the marketing of a lead-up to a sporting event. With unrealistic expectations athletes are doomed to fall off their pedestals. The standards are too high and sporting legends are not infallible. Like idiots we wonder at why their lives go wrong. Reports of young football players drinking too much or driving recklessly appear to cause shock in our community. I wonder why we expect them to be any different to any other young man? Is it because they play sport at a high level? Why are we surprised? If a 'yesterdays hero' loses his temper and throws a tanti because he’s not as good as he once was- why is it so sensationalised? What has he ever done other than champion his chosen sport?

There is not one sporting legend I use as an example to my kids as a moral or ethical gage. If Tiger wins the Masters that is what I would expect him to achieve. I might advise my kids to, "hit the ball like him but don’t live your life as a lie or betray those who love you." Do we really need to care about Tiger's infidelity anyway? Why do we expect people who make copious amounts of money to be any different to anyone else in the marriage/life stakes? What does Tiger really offer to society? Lance Armstrong is the drug cheat of the year and he may have caused competitive cycling irreparable damage. The list goes on and on. Sport walks hand in hand with cheating on every level because it is played by people and some people cheat.

I recently attended a public speaking event at a local primary school. (Of course it was a competition because we always have to have a winner. We have to instill success at everyone else’s expense in our children.) The topic was, ‘who inspires us and why.’  Not only were most speeches about athletes and celebrities who have never put anyone or anything above their sporting success and thirst for dominance. One child spoke about a humanitarian. His speech highlighted acts of kindness and he made a touching tribute about a man who devoted his life to helping others. He gave true examples of human adversity and he delivered an inspirational talk by someone so young. He spoke of the courage and lifelong role of alleviating suffering to the poor demonstrated by one individual. His speech was never rated a mention.