Who is your hero?

[Wetzelbill]

Or at least somebody you look up to. I have many.

As an athlete -wrestling and bull riding were my sports- it was always Dan Gable, Tom Brands and Kurt Angle.

As a writer and sometimes filmmaker they were/are James Welch, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood.

Politically, I would most like to be like Bobby Kennedy and Paul Wellstone.

I also greatly admire RFK Jr, and Arundhati Roy for their strength and activism.

Gandhi and Mother Theresa go without saying.

But, basically I have lived my whole life wanting to be like my grandfather. He used to be our tribal chairman then went on to be an Indian liaison in DC, President of the National Congress of American Indians, and a friend of JFK, RFK and Mike Mansfield. I remember standing at this casket a year and a half ago and pledging to him that I was going to be the grandson that followed in his footsteps. I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

So those are mine. How about you?

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Kathleen Hanna, Samantha Power, Howard Zinn

off the top of my head. :)

[Wetzelbill]

3. Good choices

Somehow none of the Spice Girls made your list, though. Had to be an error I am sure. :)

[bicentennial_baby]

5. well if i had to pick one...

i would go with Baby Spice, 'cause i admire her adorable-ness :9

[Wetzelbill]

7. hahaha

I'm a Posh fan myself. :)

[WCGreen]

8. She's Hot......

[CollegeDNC]

2. My picks.

John F Kennedy (a greater president then Reagan and Bush COMBINED)
Bobby Kennedy (would have made an equally great president, if the CIA hadn't murdered him and his brother).

Michael Collins.
Collins fought the British to a stand still and pioneered modern urban guerilla warfare. This is NOT the kind of warfare practiced by Al Qaida or Hezbollah...they practice mass murder, not legitimate warfare.

Angelina Jolie...mainly just because she is a major hottie, and that counts for alot in my book.

[terrya]

4. Paul Wellstone, Franklin Kameny, Phyllis Martin and Del Lyon...

Paul Simon (the Senator. He was a good, decent Liberal and American)

Gore Vidal

Howard Zinn

Tony Kushner

Among others

[jobycom]

12. Paul Wellstone was a lot like Ralph Yarborough

Before Wellstone died, I used to tell people he was my senator, since I couldn't claim the two in Texas at the time.

[Wetzelbill]

29. Wellstone wanted me to intern with him

he had a guy from his office call my house in MT after I sent him an e-mail around 9-11. He wanted to have an Indian - I am Blackfeet - intern for his staff. I was shocked and honored, but I decided to wait, because I was moving down to Tucson to go to the U of A. I was planning on getting it all settled after he was reelected, we all know he'd have beaten Norm Coleman, however, he tragically died. What a great man though. Paul is one of my greatest inspirations. I hope I can be half the man he was.

[WCGreen]

6. Nelson Mandela

Ghandi

Martin Luther King.....


all these men used the power of peace to stop violence and hatred...

Saints in my book....

[Wetzelbill]

34. 3 of the best

[Greyhound]

9. Benjamin Franklin n/t

[jobycom]

10. Not many. Jimmy Carter, and Ralph Yarborough

There are a lot of actors and atheletes I like and follow, but they aren't heroes, I'm just impressed by their work.

But of people I've looked up to, Jimmy Carter was the strongest. Always moral, always sacrificing himself for others, and always with a humanity that should shame most other Democrats and all other Republicans. I grew up in Mississippi in the 70s, and it was not a time to be proud of the south. Every time I saw a southerner on tv it was for the wrong reason, or it was such an offensive caricature that it made me ashamed. At the same time, I was proud of my family, my heritage, my friends. I loved where I lived. Carter was the first southerner I saw who looked and sounded like the people I knew, but wasn't embarrassing the South.

I worked for Ralph Yarborough for a year when I was a grad student in Austin, during the 90s. I attended his 90th birthday party at the Governor's Mansion, when Ann Richards was there. Part of the work I did was researching his speeches and records from the sixties. I had not heard of him when I started working for him, but I liked him. He had an effect on people that just made them smile. I would go to his house to talk to him about something, and no matter how bad a day I was having, no matter how badly I didn't want to go on that day, I always left smiling. I've never met anyone else who had that effect on me. So I liked him, and when I began researching who he was and what he'd done, and began reading his speeches and hearing his personal thoughts, I began to idolize him. He sponsored bilingual education before it was popular. He voted for every civil rights bill he could find, even from Texas. He championed every labor movement and social movement and opposed every corporate giveaway he ever met. He voted against the Viet Nam War. He defeated George HW Bush for senator in 64.

Even in his old age, he was something. When Clinton and Gore went on their bus tour right after the convention in 92, they came through Austin, and invited Yarborough to ride the bus with them. Yarborough had been friends with Gore's father, of course. So as they drove the bus out towards east Texas, Yarborough talked Clinton into making a detour to his old home town of Chandler, Texas. Clinton had no reason to, but Ralph just charmed him into it.

Great man. I miss him, and I only knew him for a year.

[Wetzelbill]

14. Oh yeah, Carter is a great man

I knew I left some people off of my post. Well, lots I guess.

What a tale about Yarborough and your experiences with him. That's great stuff. Wow. Thanks for sharing all of that.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. To be named, but they will be the group of people who take down

this disgrace of an administration.

[proud patriot]

13. Abbie Hoffman , Woody Guthrie , my mom and dad

:hi:

[I Have A Dream]

15. Jesus, the person.

What a wonderful example of how to love and how to live your life.

I'm not a religious person, but I'm very spiritual.

[Wetzelbill]

17. Right on, why I didn't put Jesus down is beyond me

I am pretty religious, not in the church going sense. I pray daily, read the bible, live by the Beatitudes, etc.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

16. FDR, JFK and MLK

Three easy choices for an all-time hero. Recently Paul Wellstone and I am waiting anxiously for someone to take the torch from him on the national stage.

As an aspiring writer/editor/ all around filmmaker mine are Martin Scorsese, Kevin Smith and David Lynch. I'd like to be half as funny as David Cross, Ricky Gervais, George Carlin or Sascha Baron Cohen a.k.a. Ali G.

I'd like to be Ben Affleck, not because of his career but because he's married to Jennifer Garner.

[Wetzelbill]

18. David Cross is awesome on Arrested Development

Mr. Show is a classic!

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

25. Everybody is awesome on Arrested Development.

I started watching the show for D.C. but find everyone hilarious, especially Byron "Buster" Bluth.

[Wetzelbill]

27. oh man that show is so funny

I rented the first season earlier this year for the heck of it. My little brother and I died laughing. Buster is completely uproarious. I'm a Gob man myself. I actually have a brother kind of like Gob, lol.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. Sam Waterston

besides being a good actor, he has quietly worked for many worthy causes, and is on the baord of many organizations, including Refugees International. He doesn't advertise his good works, and he doesn't pick the "easy" jobs. After 911, he comforted the families of the families of fallen police/firefighters. He donates his time for "The Visionaries", and doesn't just introduce the non-profits featured on the program-he studies and knows about them. Yet he is always very kind - very kind- and gracious and thankful to his fans who have had the honor of meeting him.

[shugh514]

20. Amy Goodman

She should have her own 24 hr News Network.
Thanks Amy

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. Absolutely - Amy Goodman is a national treasure

[bearfan454]

21. Sweetness for sure

[Wetzelbill]

31. what a man!

I remember the day he died. I was in Gold's Gym in Seattle. I just got down doing some deadlifts and for some reason when I turned around this big black guy I never talked to before just said, "Hey man, Sweetness is dead." He and I just visited about the Bears etc for a while after that.

I was shocked. The Bears were my favorite team circa 1985 and he's probably my favorite player ever, along with maybe Brett Favre. Walter Payton was a great player and great gentleman and just exemplified everything great about sports and life. I never have ever heard anyone say a bad word about the guy. That's something else.

[skygazer]

22. My older sister

She dropped out of high school, worked for a few years, then enrolled in a community college. She there won a full scholarship to a very good women's college where she majored in psychology. After graduation, she got a job counseling victims of violent crimes and got so interested in the judicial process that she went back to law school and earned her degree from. She was made partner in a large firm in Boston, did a Master's course through Harvard which sent her to Belfast, Ireland where she represented Irish people who'd suffered losses in the "troubles" there against the English government. She THEN got fascinated with South America and moved to Argentina for a few years, where she taught English.

About ten years ago, she suffered a brain aneurism - luckily, it leaked and gave her warning. She was rushed into emergency surgery and it was successfully removed but she suffered a mild stroke during recovery. She only lost a little mobility in her left hand and simply charged right back into her life. She now works in DC for the US government.

She is the strongest, most impressive person I've ever known. She's also fun, witty, loving and generous.

[Wetzelbill]

33. awesome story

She sounds like a wonderful person. Really somebody special.

[all.of.me]

23. my kids!

i have 2 girls, 11 & 15, and they keep my life light. they are funny, smart and creative, and all they want to do is make you laugh. i aspire to be like them.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

26. Thomas Merton, Bill W, Flannery O'Connor, Adlai Stevenson, Van Gogh

[Wetzelbill]

30. good stuff, A

you're thoughtful as usual.

I'll assume you don't mean Bill Wetzel though, haha. :)

[A-Schwarzenegger]

38. Bill Wilson, guy who started AA

[Wetzelbill]

39. oh I know

Just had to mess with you a little. :)

[RandomKoolzip]

28. Frank Zappa

[Ksec]

32. Its sad but I cant think of anyone who I consider a hero

The clsoest I come is my Father who is deceased, or maybe the firemen who risk lives.

[Wetzelbill]

36. those are just as good as any

Nothing like looking up to your father. That's great.

[MiniMandaRuth]

35. Mine are

the Buddha, J.R.R Tolkien, J.K Rowling (Even though she ripped Tolkien), Bob Dylan, and my Mommy.

[friesianrider]

37. My Mom-Mom.

A devout Christian who actually dared to show LOVE AND TOLERANCE to EVERYONE. The only real Christian I've ever met in my life. She was the most kind, compassionate, understanding, patient, loving person I've ever met in my life. November 24, 2005 will be the one year anniversary of her death - I miss you and love you so dearly, Mom-Mom...thank you for being my role model :)

[Wetzelbill]

40. that was beautiful

thanks for sharing that. My condolences for your loss. She sounds like a wonderful woman.

You know, I really like your posts, btw.

[datasuspect]

41. did you ever know that you're my hero

you're everything i wish i could be
you are the wind beneath my wings.