Time for the first post of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) of 2025. Woo-hoo!
Our awesome co-hosts this month are Rebecca Douglass, Beth Camp,Liza @ Middle Passages, and Natalie @ Literary Rambles!
The optional question is — Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?
Ooh, this is another tricky one. I definitely had a variety of both real-to-me people as well as celebrity people whom I admired at one time or another, but I can’t describe one specific person. Admiration is as fickle as an adolescent brain in my opinion, and unless I truly know someone deeply, I rarely commit to admiration in depth. I do admire it when I see someone exhibit strong character traits in a moment, though. Character matters a lot to me.
That’s a lot of words to basically say no one person sticks out as much as the general sense of people doing good things, respecting others even when no one was looking, sacrificing themselves for a larger good or goal, and building rather than destroying.
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your worldview, this can be a fast track to disappointment as the totality of the crap we accept comes into focus. But, it can also prove enlightening as what I value becomes clearer every day.
Have a great month!
kimlajevardi 
I’ve said elsewhere that Winston Churchill was a hero whose persona became more complex as I grew and learned more about him. I suppose we could probably say pretty much the same about anyone. and we should realise that it’s us who changes as we grow, rather than the other who may already have died and is therefore not actually going to change. (I know that sounds a bit clumsy – sorry).
Perspective is definitely a big part of hero worship. I think it comes into play almost as much as the spin crafted by the person, media, or community.
There are heroes in my life, but it’s not a good idea to put anyone on too high a pedestal. Under are cape there are flaws. I would like to be remembered for not the big things I achieved, but for loving the small birds in my tree.
Very true!
There are some really good people out there, but I totally get what you mean about there being less than we think. I didn’t have a good answer to the question either.
There really is a discrepancy between the number of good people we think there are and the true number. It’s sad.
I was like you–couldn’t come up with a specific person to talk about, though reading other peoples’ posts is making me think of some!
Maybe I’ll feel the same. Thanks for stopping by!
That’s why we can’t put all of our faith in people.
True
Those people are still out there, often quietly doing the right thing.
True but there are far fewer of them than I believed when I was younger.