WHERE have all the heroes gone? Certainly not to the political arena, maybe not even to the sports world. Sports stars deserve
praise, not adulationA letter in the latest Sports Illustrated decried Babe Ruth as a drunk and a womanizer. What that has to do with his baseball accomplishments I'm not sure, but it is another example of a someone unable to separate morality from reality.
It's rather like putting someone on a pedestal only to turn it into a dunking booth. Everyone takes their best shots at dumping the "idol" into the water and then is angry when he or she gets wet.
Perhaps there's just this need to have our athletes be perfect. The ancient Greeks thought so, turning their Olympic winners into demigods.
Maybe it's the times we live in, but there is this overwhelming need to be associated with a winner. How many of us last weekend cheered, "We won!" when our favorite pro/college/high school team was successful? How many moaned, "We lost!" in spite of not having played a single down or an inning?
We continually equate our success with that of our favorite teams and players. If they fail, so do we.
This transference has blurred our vision of athletes and athletics. Our need for them to be infallible is just the manifestation of our desires to become that very person we admire.
The Babe wasn't perfect. Nobody is.
He didn't set out to be a role model. He just wanted to play ball.
So it is with the sports stars of today. We should admire them for their abilities and quit trying to turn them into gods.
Be like Mike? How about just being the best you can be?
The heroes are out there. They are teaching in our classrooms, saving lives in the emergency rooms, making a difference just by caring.
IT'S a love story that has never ended. Mildred Tummonds Minvielle keeps providing sequels.
A.E. "Toots" Minvielle, founder of the Molokai-to-Oahu outrigger canoe race, passed away in 1992. His wife celebrated what would have been their 50th wedding anniversary in July by publishing her second book: Love Found & Lost in Hawaii.
It's 99 postcard-size pages of history, or rather, her-story. It's a loving tribute to her husband, whom she calls a "visionary legend." And of their time together, 44 years of "glorious experiences."
The pictures are sweet and sentimental, an intimate glimpse into a family's old photo album.
She writes of her husband's struggles to launch the Molokai Hoe, of his being told by members of the Outrigger Canoe Club board of directors that it was an impossible feat. "What are you going to do, feed our boys to the fish?" was what one board member told him.
The race became a reality in 1952, with three crews entered. There were plenty of anxious moments for the Minvielles, who waited at the Diamond Head Lookout to watch the final miles of the race.
When the canoes did not appear at the expected time, Toots told his wife, "Pinkie, plan to leave the islands if this doesn't happen as I promised it would."
The winning Kukui O Lanikaula crew from Molokai took nearly nine hours to complete the race from Kawakiu to the Moana Hotel. Next month, more than 100 canoes will be lined up off Hale O Lono for what has become the world championship.
Without the men's race, there would have been no women's race. Na Wahine O Ke Kai celebrates its 20th anniversary this Sunday.
To all those paddlers who will challenge Kaiwi the next few weeks, a safe crossing. And when you pass the Diamond Head Lookout, think of the Minvielles. Mrs. Minvielle will be thinking of you as she watches for the canoes from her Maunalani Heights home.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.
