Trading in Heroes

It’s tough to watch them fall—

The scandal breaks, the news is out, the new album is a total dud, they sold out to do ads for toothpaste that only run on cable. 

When they say “only the good die young” they’re acknowledging that heroes always end up failing us one way or another—either by dying too soon or living long enough for the veneer to fall off, showing off the all-too-human interior.

There’s another way. One we can take as we grow older: to sacrifice our heroes early. To drive over to the hero store, ask to speak to the manager, and return the whole lot. 

Trading in our heroes for people who look like us, talk like us, stink like us, fear like us, people we no longer revere but now know—as colleagues, as peers, and on occasion, as friends.

Thank you. Let’s have a great day.