One of my new heroes...
William Jefferson Clinton. Apparantly Jimmy Carter made it cool to have a life after your presidency and Bill is following suit in a way that I find to be incredibly cool. This guy is an absolute machine. He's using his incredible favor around the world to connect people, raise billions and calling people to action. His new organization, The Clinton Global Initiative is doing some incredible stuff. He recently won the TED Prize for one of his current ideas: "I wish you to help create a better future for Rwanda by assisting my foundation, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the whole country."
When asked by Peter Jennings a little bit ago who he'd most like to meet, he answered, "I would like to meet the new President of Kenya because he abolished school fees for poor children and a million extra children showed up at school." As President Clinton articulated, the abolition of school fees in just one country was, " likely to affect more lives positively than almost anything any other political leader will do this year."
His latest book sold more than any other book in the country two weeks ago, according to USA Today, and is called, Giving. This dude rubs shoulders with some of the brightest, most accomplished, wealthiest and influential people in the world and asks for checks bigger than they've ever written to be given to the world's neediest causes. That's cool.
Here's to my hero of the moment...who's yours?
Here's to my hero of the moment...who's yours?
This entry was posted by Josh Mann, on
Tuesday, October 2, 2007.
WEIGH IN.
One of my greatest heroes is retired police officer Jack McLamb, the most highly decorated and most frequently arrested officer in the history of the Phoenix Police Department. McLamb was arrested so many times because he refused to violate his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Whenever he was given an order to enforce an unconstitutional law, McLamb chose to obey the law of the land instead of his superiors.
It's commendable that former President Clinton is doing so much good for needy people, but I would never consider him a hero. He sold U.S. military secrets to China in exchange for illegal campaign contributions (this is very well documented in The New American Magazine, available online, as well as in other sources).
Clinton also protected members of the Dixy Mafia from prosecution while governor of Arkansas. According to British journalist Ambrose Evans Pritchard, members of the Dixy Mafia literally got away with murder under Clinton's watch (the most heinous example is the murder of Don Henry and Kevin Ives, two teenage boys who were killed after witnessing a drug drop at Mena Airport).
Finally, any president who would take sexual advantage of an intern hardly deserves the title of hero.
Classic response! It absolutely baffles me that a community of people who have had their own heinous acts, shameful mistakes, and bad days forgiven, redeemed, and forgotten have an incredibly difficult time extending that same forgiveness to others. What I hear you saying is that someone who has messed up can never be a hero? Or is it that someone who has messed up in 'certain' ways can never be a hero? Yet the church would call Paul, or shall I say, Saul a hero? Hhmm...accomplice to a few murders. (oh but that's different, right?) And what about Matthew 6:14-15?
Well, according to your definition, I'll never be a hero; my record isn't clean enough. Thankfully, however, people in my world and the One to whom I'm living for most doesn't use your definition.
Your opinion is fair but does it reflect the spirit of Christ? "...any president who would take sexual advantage of an intern hardly deserves the title of hero." Honestly, is there any instance in Scripture where Christ responds this way to a legitimate sin issue (Pharisees excluded)? If the kingdom isn't full of misfits and messups then the hopes of you or I finding a home there are slim, who are we kidding?
The fact that a repentant sinner can be redeemed by the blood of Jesus does not make an unrepentant criminal a hero. This is not to say that a sinner who turns his life around through the grace of God cannot become a hero. But I don't see any real evidence that this is the case with Clinton. He never made ammends for his crimes of obstructing justice in Arkansas, and the parents of Don Henry and Kevin Ives have long since given up on obtaining justice. Clinton was not the only person responsible for the cover up of their deaths, but he does share in the blame because he refused to launch an investigation so he could protect his cronies (please try telling those parents that Bill Clinton is a hero; I'd love to hear their response).
To his credit, Clinton eventually admitted to having sinned in his illicit relationship with Monika Lewinsky, but that still doesn't make him a hero. Neither does raising money for worthy causes. A hero is someone who puts himself on the line for the good of others. A true hero will pursue truth and justice even at great personal cost. This is something that Clinton has never done. If Clinton wants to be a real hero, he should do whatever is in his power to see that the truth comes to light concerning the deaths of Don and Kevin, and he should turn state's evidence against the drug lords he was protecting. This would make him a hero in my book.
I've read the posts and I can see Julie's
point about all his offenses and how someone so bad could be a hero, then the part where she told you to tell the mom's of the two dead that Clinton's your hero.
but then I see you point on how his past offenses shouldn't completely judge him.
If that was the case of if bad things should judge people does that mean that her hero the officer would be a phony hero? because I'm going off a highly probable guess that at some point in Jack McLamb's life he either called someone a name or
disobeyed what his mother told him. so of how I'm understanding Julie Jack should not and cannot be a hero because he was bad. If that was true the only person in all human history that could be considered a hero would be Jesus Christ, because as we know he never sinned. But as I know Clinton was a pretty bad guy, but what about all those people in the bible like Samson. Samson's life wasn't to pretty up to the point to where he was captured by his enemies and would be paraded around by the enemy to show off that they had conquered him. Then he finally found god again and prayed for strength from god, and by doing so he took many of his enemies out and was considered a hero for it. It wasn't that he lived a bad life but that he died with forgiveness from god and went out well saving many people. Now I don't know where Clinton is spiritually or for this fact how he's doing or anything, BUT if he's asked for forgiveness and and has changed his life around for the better good then I think he can be called a hero. Like alcoholics, they finally see the bad in their life and decide that it's time to change, and guessing they do. Should they not be given a second chance? or shall I always look down on them for the scum in their life. If so then I can never be looked upon for the bad that I've committed even when I'm 40 and I find a cure to aids and save millions of people from death. I will never be able to be looked upon.
Whoa shit man...I was going to make a smart comment on here but I can see that the conversation got realllly tense reaalllly fast.
Josh, I dont know how to contact you, but this is a good attempt...I just wanted to touch base...check out my blog to see what Beth and I are up to www.globalenkurbagement.wordpress.com
Take care!
Kurbis
PS -- I dont like this Julie character. If we knew all the shit everyone did there would be no heroes, which I am fine with, but I wonder if she knows what kind of magazines McLamb kept in his drawers at home...
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