The truth about our warped world today ....from an old song

Where Have all our Heroes Gone?
By Bill Anderson

Where have all our heroes gone?
What's come over our great land?
America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone?
I saw a group of boys the other day standing in the corner of a playground
Looking and laughing at a magazine. And I overheard one of the boys say, “Man is he ever cool!”
And he pointed to the man who's picture was on the magazine cover.
And everybody kinda said under their breath, “Yeah, he's cool alright!”And I got sick to my stomach.
Because I'd seen the cover and the “man” that they were talking about had instigated a riot in one of our major cities last summer. And the magazine was writing about how the police were unkind to him.
The judges were unfair with him. And how he talked back and slung his long hair about and cussed
And “did his thing” and they made him into a regular hero.
And inside this magazine was the story of the baseball player who got involved with the gamblers
Of the football player who said that football was not the end.
Just a means to an end, meaning the girls and the good times.
And a story of a folk singer who proudly claims To be both a member of a party alien to our government and a non-tax paying citizen.These young boys read with open eyes and open minds.
And I thought to myself, “My God,Are these the people that these young boys look up to?
Are these their idols? Are these the heroes of the now generation?"
(America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone?)

I had heroes when I was a kid. We all did and our heroes did their thing too.
Like General Douglas McArthur who returned like he said he would.
Like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers who chased the bad guys right off the screen.
Like Lindberg who flew the ocean and Jesse Owens who showed Hitler.
And John Wayne and Gerry Cooper. After all, didn't they really win the war?
And General Ike, bless your soul, cause you made us feel safe.
We've killed some of our recent heroes-the Kennedys and Kings.
And even as great as their space feats are How many of the astronauts can you name? huh how many?
My heroes were people like Joe DiMaggio who proved that nice guys can finish first.
And Stan Musian who never had an unkind word for anybody.
And Winston Churchill whose two fingers raised together meant victory
Not just a let-your-enemy-have-it-all kind of artificial peace.
This country needs a lotta things today friends
But it doesn't need any one thing anymore than it needs some real heroes
Men who know what it means to be looked up to by a grimy faced kid.
Men who wanna sign autograph books and not deals under the table.
Men who are willing to play the game with the people who made them heroes.
Men who don't mind putting on a white hat and saying "thank you" and "please".
I wish I knew more men that I'd be proud for my son to look up to and say
"Daddy when I grow up, I want to be just-like-him.”
(Where have all our heroes gone?)