Over the years, I have observed the impact professional athletes have had on our young people's lives. How many of our children grow up wanting to be professional athlete's someday? In addition to the high profile marketing of these athletes, our young people have the ability to go and see these greats perform in real time, real life. These multi-million dollar individuals are seen as idols to our generation of young people. It is easy for our children to get swept up in the excitement of following daily events. They are highly visible: television, newspapers, billboards, magazines, and yes in stadiums across the country. They encourage and relish our young people joining in the hype of building momentum for their careers.
As we have seen in the last couple of weeks, we have taken a huge risk in allowing our children to idolize these men and women of the flesh. A-Rod seen on billboards, posters and the national icon for The Boys and Girls Clubs of America admits to performance enhancing drugs. Michael Phelps seven time gold medalist in this years Olympics caught smoking pot just weeks after standing on the highest platform and being idolized by young people and adults across the world for his exemplary swimming abilities. How do we explain these lapses of judgement to our children?
To me, it should be easy and a great conversation opportunity to discuss priorities, right from wrong and consequences to bad choices. Parents could point out these athletes are not God and are not perfect. They should not be idolized. We must be sure that we help them prioritize which authority figure to worship. There is no risk in idolizing God - The only perfect one, who will never let our kids down and is unequivocally the "Name Above All Names".
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