I would hate to have to detail the number of times I have heard the admonition to "Never meet your heroes."
We in the Western world (and possibly others as well) have a bad habit of ascribing unseen positive characteristics to individuals that we have seen do some important and positive things. As a kid, I could not believe that those incredibly gorgeous women of Hollywood could have possibly done anything that could justify divorcing them. As an adult, I know better. I phrased that on purpose. I'm better at it but, I am not perfect at it. I still generally have a more positive view of folks if I know they have unrelated positive things in other circumstances.
The recent revelations about Cesar Chavez, regardless of their accuracy and truthfulness, should not reflect on the actual good things he validly did. Rather it should function as a reminder to all of us that if a given entity is human, they are most likely flawed. Not flawed in every way but, with flaws definitely in the mix.
In the "guy" community a common thing to say to another guy upon observing a particularly attractive female is "Rule #1". Rule 1 is pretty simple. "No matter how good she looks, somewhere there is some guy that is tired of putting up with her shit." (I really needed to know that rule as a kid) We say it because we can be blinded by beauty and the reminder (might) help. I suggest we extrapolate. Whatever human you are describing as flawless, be it Mother Teresa or our orange menace, you are wrong. There is a flaw there and if history is the guide, the flaw may well be as impactful as whatever good they do.
At the end of the day, the flaws do not erase the good they do and the good does not erase their flaws. Meet your heroes if you must but, worshiping your heroes is the path to disappointment.
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