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Knocking your heroes off pedestals

"Inquiring minds want to know." No, scratch that...nosy minds want to know. I need to let everyone in on a little secret that I thought I could keep to myself, but in light of the past few days, I must let this out now. Your role models and your "heroes" are not perfect, and as a matter of fact, they are human just like you. Please sit down, stop screaming, and take long, slow deep breaths. Since there are people that apparently believe that there are other men or women who are somehow incapable of wrongdoing because they are living the "good" life, then it is my duty to take the role of the person who first told you that Santa, the tooth fairy, and the Easter bunny don't exist and that Elvis really is dead. The people we consider celebrities have the ability to do wrong just as easily as they have the ability to do right. It's pretty elementary to say, but it's a little surprising that we still get shocked and hurt when we hear about the latest celebrity scandal.

There are those that feel that celebrities are somehow required to give their fans a detailed account of how they spend their time and an intimate look at every mistake and sin they have ever done. If this is true, then these same people should start a blog called, "The wrongs I have done", and they should have a camera man walking with them 24/7 so that all of us can see how the next person acts in their private life. If this doesn't sound reasonable, then it's unfair to demand the facts of someone else's privacy.

When someone does wrong, the only ones that should know about it are the ones that are affected, and when a celebrity does wrong, it has no effect whatsoever on their fans. Our role models and our heroes should come from either our homes, our neighborhoods, or our cities because when your role models come from the people on your t.v., it means you're disconnected. There's a 90% chance that none of us know Michael Jordan personally, and we will never have lunch with Brett Favre, Alicia Keys or any other "famous" person you can name which means that we don't know these celebrities personally. We know how they live by how they tell us or by how the media portrays them, but that does nothing to fill us in on their private life.

The bottom line is that if you want to pattern your life after someone, choose someone you can actually come into physical contact with so that you can really know them. If you don't have anyone around that fits that bill, then look at the people around you as examples of what not to do. So before you worry about someone else's business, take care of your own first!

They are who we thought they were!

In case I haven't mentioned it...I love football! I also pay close attention to the game and I even have my own philosophy of it. I say my own because I know that sometimes my thoughts may be pretty random. "They are who we thought they were!" is what former Arizona head coach, Dennis Green said about the Chicago Bears after a reporter asked him a question concerning the loss his team had against them. The more and more I hear this phrase and use it myself, I start to "think" and I ask you, "who do people think you are?"

Whether your family and friends or even your enemies think you're an amazing person or a complete idiot all depends on one person...you. I'm not saying anything groundbreaking, but we control how everyone else sees us. So how do you see yourself? Do you consider yourself a Superman or a Superwoman, a survivor, or a quitter? Taking it back to football one more time, current Miami Dolphins executive VP, Bill Parcells is quoted with once saying, "You are what your record says you are." There is a football team that started their season 5-0, and at that point, everyone was eager to talk about this team's chances in the playoffs and possibly the Super Bowl. This same team went on to lose 4 straight games and now has a record of 6-5, and now many are talking about what could have been even though there are still 6 games left in the season. Where this team ends up after the season all depends on what they think of themselves and what they do with these thoughts.

The more and more I think about it, the more I contend that there are only three reasons we will ever fail.

1) Whether or not it was too early or too late, it wasn't the right time for our goal

2) We didn't work hard enough to accomplish our goal

3) We didn't think we could do it

That's it...just these three reasons. We will never fail because of someone else or because something's "too hard". We constantly hear stories about how people have succeeded and sometimes their stories are miraculous, and maybe even "lucky", but the stories of failures are sometimes just as interesting. In one instance, a few of Thomas Edison's teachers said that he was, "too stupid to learn anything", yet Edison went on to invent the light bulb. After his first audition, a casting director told Sidney Poitier that he should, "...stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something." Immediately after that, Poitier devoted himself to acting and in return, he became one of the world's best actors.

The bottom line is that we should never be afraid to fail, but we should avoid not trying. I've failed, you've probably failed, and the majority of the people in the limelight have failed. The difference in a lot of cases between failure and success is what we do and the way we think.

Life...the great popularity contest

In case you hadn't heard, Tiger Woods wrecked his SUV and his wife a.k.a. Wonder Woman, smashed the back glass with a 9 iron before ripping out the back seat and saving Woods from the fiery crash. Maybe, I exaggerated a little bit, but the truth is that I'm still a little stunned. I heard about this first on my local news and then I heard about it on Sportscenter(naturally), but then TMZ was also one of the first shows to "break" this news. I'm expecting CNN and FOX to have an in-depth analysis of the accident and of course Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, or some other loudmouthed, overrated, conspiracy theory spitting Republican that "is for the people" will somehow convince some people that this is all the fault of Barack Obama. My question is WTF?!

How is it possible that Jon and Kate, the octomom, and Brad and Angelina are household names, but the names of the politicians who are for or against universal health care are known only to political "pundits" or people who wake up to the sounds of CNN and FOX? Why are we more likely to read an article about the end of days for the Oprah Winfrey show rather than watch a video that talks about the alternatives to fossil fuels? Is it because we love Oprah, but hate saving money and the environment?

Everything has its own place in our minds, and I know that the most popular topics will always be what we see the most of on t.v. All that I'm saying now is that sometimes the most popular topics should be the ones that directly affect our homes, cities, and states rather than how big, mean Kanye scarred poor, defenseless Taylor - which is of course historical news by now, but you get the point.

An introduction to me and the truck people

My name is Garrett Rogers and for better or worse, the blogs you read here will be about me and my life. For those interested in political, religious, or social commentary, I strongly recommend www.brotherspeak.com which is an online black mens' magazine that I hope to soon turn into a national print magazine. You can also find insightful blogs on www.myspace.com/brotherspeak and inspirational quotes at www.twitter.com/brotherspeak. Here, you will mostly find thoughts that most "normal" people would never admit to. I'm fine with that because I'm not afraid to admit that I love putting the "I can't believe you just did that" face on my fiancee.

"The greatest strength is found in complete and naked openness." I just made that up and since I can't agree more with myself, I'll be open. I just turned 33, I work at a job that I can't wait to quit, but I won't until I start making good money from Brotherspeak...so consider this a message to you to go to www.brotherspeak.com and buy as much as you can from the ads there(seriously). I want to change the world for the better because I feel it's what we're all supposed to do and because so many people have helped to change me for the better. I have a beautiful and understanding fiancee, two teenage daughters, and one teenage son, and I live for the times when I can do for them exactly what my parents did for me...give them something better than what I had.

I love football. I love it so much that even as a die hard Cowboys fan, I can tell you something good and something terrible about all 32 NFL teams. I have a love/hate relationship with the playoffs because even though some of the best games are played in the postseason, I also know that it won't be long before there's the Super Bowl and then there's a five month stretch of no football. I watch an occasional college football game, but I don't keep up with the college games like I do with the NFL because I wouldn't have time for anything else if I did. I still like watching the WWE even though it's "fake"...what the wrestlers do still require some athleticism and a tolerance for pain. I like watching basketball after football season so at least I still get a sports fix. I've also started getting interested in UFC and mixed martial arts in general because even though it's a violent and bloody sport, I respect the men and women that are passionate enough about their chosen field to step into a cage and beat the mess out of their opponent.

I drive a Honda Civic that's in the shop right now because of transmission failure. I knew I had to take it to the shop because as much as I can now brag about still having a good mood in spite of having to drive 30 m.p.h. everywhere or having to completely turn the car off and restarting it every other block just to make it to the next block, I could only take driving back roads instead of the highway for just so long. So I rented a car...scratch that...I rented a Dodge Ram. I don't know what it is about a truck, but driving one will change you. As soon as I got behind the wheel, I had to hit the horn, and I didn't hear one of those "please move sir or m'aam" type wimpy horns. I heard a "GET OUT THE WAY OR I WILL STEAM ROLL YOU" horns. The next thing I had to do was push every button and find out what every thing did. My next urge was to go off-roading or drive through a shallow river like they do in the truck commercials. For some strange reason, my fiancee wasn't completely thrilled about me telling her what I wanted to do...women. Climbing into the cab of my Dodge Ram makes me feel stronger, more manly, and it makes me feel like I should be on the range stopping a stampede and roping steers, but as my son so kindly reminded me, "You have to take it back next week."

So there you have it...here's me the nut, in a nutshell. I know this first blog was like three blogs in one, but you just got three for the price of one...I'm all about value! Since you're here, follow www.rareblacpearl.blogspot.com. That's my fiancee's blog, and I hope everybody has a wonderful and safe thanksgiving and I really want to find the car that's in this picture!