This past week, I lost a role model who has and will continue to influence the course of my life. My grandfather, 87 years old, was a man who got the best of life, for better or worse. Although it seems that as time fades, the bad memories fade with it, my grandfather was truly someone to look up to. Lacking the money to attend college, he went straight from high school to law school, graduating at age 20, too young to even take the bar exam. A man who truly achieved the American Dream, he had three sons (all lawyers) and a family that would epitomize the notion of success. But the point of this article is not to eulogize my grandfather, but rather to shine light on something that the loss of a role model brings to the forefront.

As 21st-century college students, we live in an extremely unique and fast-paced era in history. With communication barriers virtually nonexistent, we are able to see and hear what is going on in the world with lightning-strike rapidity. With the obvious benefits that this feature of our time entails, it is easy to dismiss and even ignore the problems that instant and total communication gives birth to — most importantly, overexposure. With every single scandal that shows up on the news, we are left with fewer people to admire and look up to. As someone who consumes the news media everyday, I am left asking the question, who are my role models?

Is it the men and women working in our government, the policymakers? Impossible. While many of our politicians have respectable interests, the system as a whole forces them to act in ways we wouldn't want to emulate. Politicians are forced to act in the interest of money and power — whether they want to or not. And with the prevalence of illegal activity, such as members of our House of Representatives preying on young boys, to "legal" activity done by our oil corporation of an executive branch, or even those outside government corrupting policy decisions (hint: casino interests), we simply no longer can look to our political leaders for inspiration. So, the question follows, who then?

A common answer to this, and one that I grew up believing in, is the professional athlete. This idea, though, is more laughable than the first. You only have to look at the rap sheet of the NFL's 2006 Cincinnati Bengals or the "GET PAID" tattoo stamped across the bicep of New England Patriot defensive back Asante Samuel to see why. In case you still believe in the innocence of professional athletes, take a look at page 22 of this week's Sports Illustrated and its "2007 Legal Leader Board," which ranks teams according to how many convictions, arrests, or citations their team members have received during the year. Even our generation's Ted Williams (arguably the best baseball player of all time who sacrificed three years in the prime of his career to dutifully fight for his country in World War II), Pat Tillman, was de-glorified when public attention veered from his heroics to the inane details of his untimely death. The youth of our nation can no longer set their sights of influence toward the professional athlete. Our prototypical modern athlete is an overpaid, at-times violent (take a look at the frequent riots that take place on the basketball court) individualist, looking to get "theirs."

Another thought that crossed into my head when assessing the future of my list of role models were the people with the largest influence on my life: my parents. Unfortunately, college-age kids, for the most part, are too stubborn and too exposed to their parents to realize the influence that they have had and will continue to have in their lives. A time will come when all of us understand that who we are is ultimately destined by who our parents are, but for now, most don't understand, and we must look elsewhere.

So if not our politicians, professional athletes or parents, who should we look to as role models?

My answer: the 2006-07 Wisconsin men's basketball team. Led by a humble, drug-and alcohol-hating, hardworking (on- and off-court) superstar who captured the attention of a nation, the Badgers are doing something no UW basketball team has ever done before, and they're doing so with the utmost class and dignity. This team is something special, a team with a cumulative GPA of 3.039, which has continued to climb the rankings while its members constantly pass credit off to their teammates and their coach.

Although the Badgers could not retain their No. 1 (or 2) ranking in the national polls, it does not matter. It is not what they have accomplished that has made them formidable role models; it has simply allowed that fact to be exposed. Our Badgers are not getting DUIs; they're not driving around town with weed in their pockets and mushrooms in the glove box; they are not doing anything but practicing, studying, working hard together and trying to achieve a common goal. Perhaps the definition has changed, but that sounds like a role model to me.

R.I.P. Harold S. White, and let's go Badgers!

Ben White ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and sociology.