no more heroes.

honor, loyalty, respect. where did they go, or were they ever here? i think they were, but it was never widespread, never commonplace. you found it here, there...maybe never.

carlito brigante. the fictional anti-hero of the brian depalma classic, carlito's way. used to move heavy dope, got downed for a murder charge and hit with a football number.30 years. thanks to his lawyer, only served 5, and was back on the streets, but a changed man. no more dope. 75 large and he's off the the bahamas, straighted up, and flying right. wants to do it the right way. but.

always a but. he is who he is, and that's never going to change. for ideas that have gone the way of the high top fade, first downs and saccony's. extinct, over, through with and cashed out.

a stand up guy. i hate to use mob terms, but its the only one that fits. when everyone is kneeling, ducking, cowering, he stands. stands for what he believes in, like a tree (and i dare anyone to try and move me). Loyalty, honor, respect. When it's hardest, when it's not in your best interest to do so.

even over cash. yeah, over money.

the problem as i see it, is that people don't even check for those qualities anymore. it's no longer necessary because it's on nobody's list. you can only pick friends and the person you'll spend the rest of your life with, and if any criteria was important, i would think it would be those. those ideas that you can't really express. but you know in a situation where life's got you by the short hairs, you can look over and know. when push comes shove, and shove turns to wrestling, you look back into your corner and no ones there, because they are out there fighting with you.

i was talking to this young woman, and we were talking about a situation where this dude snitched on his homeboy. they were both doing dirt, one got caught, and gave up his man.

"shit, i don't blame him. he said they weren't that cool anyway. he's got his future to think about. i would have done the same thing."

i was speechless. not much robs me of the ability to comment. even now, trying to type a response now that accurate describes i how feel is almost impossible. what i do know is that no one truly loves a person that thinks like that. few remembers that person when they gone.

whether we know it or not, we need brigante's in our lives. we yearn for it even when we don't know it. look at the movie that won best picture this year. llewellen moss. cut from a different cloth. a man with principle. the sheriff. a man with principles. even anton chirgurrh. principles that he stuck by, no matter how warped. people are attracted to it because they need it like water, but is as scarce as beepers.

in our own lives, we talk about those people when they aren't around, thinking about them give us solace. we love them. even the people they meet in passing are forever touched and changed. their lives change in some small way because of meeting them, and for the better.

they are our heroes. make them apart of your lives if you are lucky enough to know one. spend time with them. share with them. because when they are gone, your likely not to meet another.