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Hernando Today

Are There Any Good Guys Left?

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By JERRY WAUGH, Guest Columnist

Hernando Today

Published: August 17, 2008

When I was a young child, my dad and I would often watch cowboy Westerns together on Saturday mornings. If you were watching, for instance, "The Lone Ranger," you could always tell the good guys from the bad guys by the color of their hats. The good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats. (Of course, Adam Cartwright from "Bonanza" sort of messed up the system when he was a good guy but wore a black hat).
Last week, the one-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards admitted to having an affair… he may have even fathered a child from the affair … while his wife, Elizabeth, was home battling terminal cancer. But this story is about more than a lapse in judgment that could be a potential political career killer -- it is a story about another good guy ("we need to help the poor in America") who now has to take off his white hat (at least for awhile).
You can't cheat on your wife, lie repeatedly in public about cheating on your wife, tell your wife you are no longer cheating on her and then sneak out in the middle of the night to a Beverly Hills hotel to meet the other woman, while all along disregarding the feelings of your wife, your children and the people who had placed trust in what you were saying. That breaks the good guys' code of ethics. Sadly, another white hat is removed and placed on a rack.
Of course, politics isn't the only arena where the good guys are falling. We have some teachers having inappropriate relationships with their students. We have some sports "heroes" using illegal enhancing drugs. Even in my profession, the ones who should be the best of the good guys -- the clergy – there are some who have gone to the dark side by abusing the children who thought their minister was a good guy.
Today's dilemma isn't that you can't tell the good guys from the bad guys – it's that you now have to wonder if the good guy is really a good guy – something I never had to wonder about in all my years of watching "The Lone Ranger."
This political election year is just one indicator of how we long to see a good guy lead us. We long for another John F. Kennedy ("Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country"). We long for another Ronald Reagan ("I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's a purpose and worth to each and every life."). By the way, the reason you get airports, libraries, schools and ships named after you is because you were a good guy. What we don't long for is someone who pretends to be a good guy but is actually hanging with guys who wear black hats.
The other night, I was watching an episode of "America's Got Talent." When Sharon Osbourne asked 4-year-old contestant, Kaithlyn, "Are you from New York?" she replied, "I'm from America." I loved that answer and so did the audience! A few years ago, whether a politician or party was Democratic or Republican, the crucial question was, "What is best for the country?" Today, it seems that the crucial question is "What's best for the party?"
When people ask me about my faith, I share that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am affiliated with (or some might say afflicted with) Baptists. But being a Baptist is my second response – my first response is "I'm a follower of Jesus." To me, the same kind of answer should be true patriotically, "I am an American. I might be affiliated with the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or an independent; but first and foremost, I am an American." Four-year-old Kaithlyn has it right – she's from New York, but she is first from America.
So are there any good guys (and gals) left in our world? The answer is "yes." I personally know good decent teachers, good decent ministers, good descent sport's figures and good decent politicians (yes, you read that last line right). There are bad guys in every part of life, but I guarantee you that there are also good guys out there, too. There are good guys in our world who genuinely care about others – no strings attached. There are good guys in our world who still do selfless, Good Samaritan acts of kindness. There are good guys in our world who every day do things right. If you take a second look around this week, you might just see a white hat on the heads of some people in your life.
There is still one other important question to ask on this topic, "What makes a good guy a good guy?" The main answer would be: What makes a good guy good is having a good heart. What we do on the outside starts on the inside.
I am an imperfect person (if I had a halo it would be cracked). Still, I hope I am one of the good guys. I care about people. I try to help others. I want to be just as consistent in my private life as I am in my public life. But the reason I'm that way is because my heart is that way. The reason my heart is that way is because God has changed me (and continues to change me) from the inside out.
We have some very gifted cardiologists in Hernando County and the Tampa Bay area but God is the expert in heart transplants. He can take a selfish heart and transform it into a loving heart. Just as in some of those Saturday morning westerns, when a bad guy changed his ways and became a good guy, God will give a new heart for the person who turns to and trusts in Him.
In a world where bad things (the bad guys) seem to get the headlines, there still is good in our world because God is still at work in our world. And one of the ways He works in our world every day is through those we might call a good guy.

The Rev. Jerry Waugh is the senior pastor of Northcliffe Baptist Church in Spring Hill.

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