Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

Petraeus and Broadwell

Wonderful General David Petraeus, the symbol of truth, honor, and the American way--Superman to me and to millions of others--succumbed to the sins of the flesh and utterly destroyed his reputation and his entire life's work.

Jesus.

The man who stood for integrity is the star of a truly trashy story, where his mistress Paula Broadwell sent angry emails to a woman in Tampa she believed also desired the general.  And now they say that Broadwell might have revealed state secrets.  And then there's Petraeus' wife Holly, who's madder than hell.

Petraeus with wife Holly

                                                                     
Well how about us, the believers left blowing in the wind?  Who do we got left?

A couple weeks ago I wrote a disparaging but sympathetic blog about Lance Armstrong and sort of defended him at the time.  What was I thinking?  He's a slug and a criminal to boot.  People with excellent reputations and their livelihoods to lose, risked everything to support the insurmountable evidence against him and stand by the truth.

Armstrong with 7 jerseys

Yet yesterday that bottom feeder tweeted a picture from his family room where he lay on the couch surrounded by his seven jerseys.  NONE of those jerseys belong to him.  He stole them all and jokes about them now. 

"Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you..."

During the height of the Vietnam War, we thought that America was crumbling into hell.  Kids were dying but nobody was listening anywhere in Washington.  Who could we trust?  Would you buy a used car from tricky Dick?

Jeff Gordon

And so the story continues.  Yesterday another champion bit the dust, or became a dust bag, whichever you prefer.  Jeff Gordon--never my hero--but to thousands of others, he stood for something.  Yet he deliberately wrecked Clint Bowyer's car in Phoenix, and they fined him a hundred grand.  They accomplished nothing.  The penalty was just a slap on the wrist because the hero showed no remorse.

That's what I don't understand.  How come so many people exalt in their own glory and then let it blow up in their faces?

I say forget the big and famous, and remember the regular folks who keep our lives real--the first responders, the men and women fighting overseas, the parents who sacrifice everything for a child, and the rest of the givers of the world.

I'm already bored with the Petraeus story.  I've mourned my hero, and I hope that America thanks him for his service and wishes him a good day.