Honorees have challenges in common

Here’s what winners of Time magazine’s Person, Athlete, Entertainer and Heroes of the Year have in common: They are all successful, but challenged — and even derided — representatives in their fields.

And that’s a powerful statement, for it signals a societal shift into how we now measure success. You don’t have to be the super best at it, just genuine.

Time announced that the Person of the Year for 2021 is billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the world’s largest car company, Tesla, as well as SpaceX, which won NASA’s contract to put U.S. astronauts on the moon.

“The richest man in the world does not own a house and has recently been selling off his fortune. He tosses satellites into orbit and harnesses the sun; he drives a car he created that uses no gas and barely needs a driver. With a flick of his finger, the stock market soars or swoons. An army of devotees hangs on his every utterance.”

He also doesn’t pay much in taxes.

After Musk won Time’s honor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren dubbed him “freeloader of the year.” She says Musk is among the U.S. billionaires who don’t pay enough taxes.

“Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else,” she tweeted.

Musk shot back that Warren “reminds me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason.”

And in some circles, the quirky Musk is viewed with skepticism. When he offered to build a tunnel in downtown Miami, there was hesitation, deservedly or not. Is the billionaire businessman also something of a flim-flam man?

According to Time, the Heroes of the Year are the doctors who created the COVID-19 vaccine. No argument there, yet what’s the one thing that divided Americans more this year? Whether or not to vaccinate.

For Entertainer of the Year, Time picked former Disney star and current singer-songwriter sensation Olivia Rodrigo, only 18, who managed to connect with a younger generation in a powerful way during a pandemic.

Rodrigo is a big star in the making, no doubt. Yet, this year she was embroiled in a plagiarism scandal over a couple of her songs from her hit debut album, “Sour.”

But she has handled the accusations cleverly and with style — and not a declaration to accusers that “I’ll-fight-you-incourt-for-years-to-preserve-myreputation-as-a-songwriter.”

Instead, Rodrigo turned over half a million dollars in songwriting royalties to the artists who thought they were plagiarized, including Taylor Swift.

Here’s how she defends herself: “What’s so beautiful about music is that it can be so inspired by music that’s come out in the past,” she said.

“Every single artist is inspired by artists who have come before them,” is how Rodrigo explains it. Not quite an admission of guilt, but the recipients of her royalties apparently are mollified.

Finally, Time’s Athlete of the Year is gymnast Simone Biles, who had a storied career on the mat. Biles mentally stumbled at this year’s Summer Olympics for the world to see when she could not perform her routines. This, only months after testifying as a victim in the Larry Nassar sexual-abuse scandal that embroiled USA Gymnastics.

Biles courageously became a high-profile spokeswoman and a symbol that world-class athletes struggle with mental issues, too. It was another breakthrough moment for the way Americans view athletes.

So Biles is Athlete of the Year not because she led a team to the Super Bowl or ran the fastest or hit the most home runs, she won the honor for faltering — and having the strength to keep moving forward.

“Biles’ assuredness in speaking her truth and taking ownership of her fate offered permission for athletes and non-athletes alike to talk more openly about challenges they’d once kept to themselves,” Time notes.

It’s a new day out there, even for the way Time annually selects honorees who had a significant year, an annual practice since 1927.

Can’t say it’s a bad idea.