America has the Wrong Idols

If you were to look on the list of this week's top 100 online searches or search words, most of them are celebrity names or sports stars. To me, the top 100 online searches reads like a list of who and what America idolizes-where we place our values and interests. These are the people who are children and teenagers are reading about and idolizing-and they are the wrong people.

For years, I have been convinced that there is something fundamentally wrong with the fact that basketball, football, and baseball stars can be paid millions of dollars, and doctors and scientists struggle. Doctors can sometimes barely pay their malpractice insurance-in my state, there is a crisis because of a lack of Obstetricians to deliver babies. People who are saving lives are getting paid so little, and entertainers are rolling in the big bucks.

I have no problem with the free market economic system-which is the reason that the huge salaries for sports, movie, and rock stars exist. But the underlying principles that drive these economics seem to be fundamentally flawed. We as a society value entertainment, good looks, and athleticism above all else.

Does the teenager who has posters of pop singers plastered to her walls realize what she is idolizing? First, most of these singers have merely been blessed with a great voice and good looks (that they have probably improved through plastic surgery). As for talent, many of them are singing songs that have been written for them-so no real music writing talent exists. The lifestyles are also nothing I would want my daughter to emulate: multiple divorces and broken homes, one partner after another, anorexia to try to maintain the perfect weight, and other less-than-desirable traits.

I suggest that we begin to offer real heroes to our young people. Let them idolize the great leaders in our country of the past and present. We need to build up people who made our nation great, such as soldiers who fought (and are fighting) for freedom and honor and justice. Doctors, scientists, nurses, inventors---these are people whom our teenagers should get to know better. America needs to begin to idolize the men and women who honor their commitments to each other and their marriages, and who work hard to provide for their families.

These "idols" are not names that will come up in a list of top internet searches, but they are everyday people. They are people who are working to make a difference and are deserving of our thanks.