Monday Morning Motivational Message - Childhood Heroes

Who were your childhood heroes?

When I was growing up, besides my parents, my heroes were the larger-than-life characters I saw on prime-time television or Saturday morning cartoons.  

I'm old enough to remember Batman and the Green Hornet, who were on television right after dinner when our family lived in Georgia. When I got older, my hero was Robert Conrad, who played Secret Service Agent Jim West on Wild, Wild, West.

On Saturday morning, I admired cartoon characters like Spiderman, Space Ghost, and He-Man. 

Heroes are important role models who inspire and emulate positive qualities and instill values in young children. These characters help to teach morals and motivate kids to overcome challenges and make a positive difference in their communities.

A 2013 commentary by Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals from The University of Richmond, entitled Heroes: What They Do & Why We Need Them, identified reasons we need heroes. Here are five of their suggestions:

1. We were born to have heroes - Research suggests that newborn babies prefer people with morals.

2. Heroes nurture us when we are young - All of us owe whatever success we've had to the people who were there for us when we were young.

3. Heroes reveal our missing qualities - Heroes educate us about right and wrong. During our youth we most need good, healthy adult role models who demonstrate exemplary behavior.

4. Heroes give us hope - Heroes are a beacon of light against the world's darkness.  

5. Heroes deliver justice - Research indicates that we want to live in a world where we believe good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Heroes provide fairness and lawfulness.

Heroes teach us about our basic human needs: happiness, healing, health, hope, etc. None of us can meet our basic needs without the help of others. 

As long as people desire to fulfill their needs, they will need extraordinary people willing to step forward to help them. Can you be one of those people?

Please leave me a comment about your heroes. Your ideas and opinions are valuable, and I enjoy reading them.