Good post.

Scott Nicholson

Like you, I have avoided meeting a few of my role models. One when I was 15, everyone thought I was crazy to not take the opportunity, but as time drew close I found I just couldn’t participate in the clinic that this horse trainer was hosting. I was so worried that he wouldn’t live up to my image of him. Especially since it was urban legend that he could be very mean.

But on the other side I also met a horse trainer that wrote the very first horse training book I’d ever read (at 13) several years ago and he was just as friendly and unassuming in person as his books and training videos made him out to be. That was fun. On the note, of not putting down fans, he was also courteous and thanked me when I told him that his first book was the very first training book I’d ever read. He had long autograph lines each day and I happened to be stationed near him and saw him exhibit that same behavior with every single fan that came up to him and he never acted tired or pressed for time. I think this was helped by the fact that he had several handlers that did the “dirty work”. LOL Was fascinating watching them as well.

Back to topic…

Charles Barkley is quoted as saying he doesn’t think sports players should be role models — especially for kids. In light of the Tiger Woods revelations, Charles has yet again been proven right. And will doubtless be proven right every time some jock juices up, does drugs, sleeps around, or gets caught being a hoodlum.

I am also reminded of the scene from the movie The Right Stuff where Scott Glenn — as Alan Shepard — and Ed Harris — as John Glenn — are arguing about the obligations each of the Mercury 7 have; as public figures. Now, whether this conversation is apocryphal or not, it’s one of the more memorable scenes from that movie, for me, because of the points it makes. Namely, that the astronauts are just pilots doing a job, and nobody has the right to tell them what to do when they’re not in the cockpit. On the other hand — and also true — is the fact that whether they want it or deserve it, the Mercury 7 have become celebrities, which carries with it a higher obligation to behave in an upstanding manner, because the public is watching and the astronauts are role models for millions — especially kids. They also represent NASA and the astronaut corps, so if one of them gets caught with his pants around his ankles, the entire program gets caught with its pants around its ankles.

In my military life I am keenly aware that civilians are watching me — and all the rest of us. When one of us f***s up, it makes us all look like f***-ups. Abu Grhaib being one of the more notorious examples in recent times. And believe me, everyone who wears the uniform with pride was sickened and angered beyond belief at those events, not only because they were stupid and horrible on a human level, they made the rest of us look like a bunch of sadistic weirdos. And that’s just not OK.

Every time an author — especially a prominent author — goes out anywhere to be seen, the onus is on them to “represent,” as it were. Many don’t care, and behave however they damn well want, and I guess that’s their right. But sooner or later, if enough fans have bad experiences — aspirants and new writers too — the reputation kind of pancakes out on all of us, and suddenly the authorial community as a “rep,” and it’s not always a good one.