Glenn Beck is warning that a growing sense of hopelessness among young Americans is tied to a culture that has spent decades tearing down historical figures and stripping younger generations of people worth looking up to.

Beck pointed to polling that he said shows deep pessimism among younger Americans.

"This spring, Harvard asked 2,000 young Americans how they felt about the country. 13% said we were on the right track. 13," Beck said.

He said the more troubling finding was not simply dissatisfaction with the country, but a growing belief among young people that their own actions no longer influence the future.

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"The pollster said the biggest challenge since 2018 isn't about the country; it's about them. It's a growing belief that what they do no longer shapes what happens next. That is the biggest lie. That is the most dangerous lie we can have," Beck said.

He also cited another survey asking men whom they admire most.

"Another survey asked men who they look up to. Mom came in first. Dad came in second. Coaches and teachers third. Famous names all came in way behind," Beck said.

Beck argued that those findings are connected to decades of cultural criticism aimed at historical leaders and other prominent figures.

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"For 50 years, we taught our kids that every hero had clay feet, that George Washington was a hypocrite, Lincoln was just a politician. He didn't do that great. In fact, he betrayed his country. That every great man had a secret, and the secret was the real story, not the great thing that he did," Beck said.

He acknowledged that historical figures were imperfect, but said the cultural focus shifted from examining flaws honestly to reducing people entirely to those flaws.

"But we didn't stop at the truth; we kept digging and digging and picking until there was nothing left, and now we wonder why the generation feels like nothing they do matters," Beck said.

His conclusion was blunt.

"Tear down everyone worth looking up to, and the only place left to look is your shoes. Is looking down all the time and nothing. Doesn't matter," Beck said.

Beck then told a story about a wealthy friend who had worked in the White House, built a major industrial company, and eventually gave away his fortune before his death.

"He said, "I want to die broke, and he gave it all away. And he was the biggest philanthropist I have ever met," Beck said.

When that friend visited Beck’s office in New York, he ignored the skyline and instead focused on Beck’s desk.

"He walked in. He looked right as he walked in. He's looking right at my desk and what's on my desk. And he said, "Where are all the pictures?" Beck said.

Beck initially assumed his friend meant family photographs.

"I said, "What do you mean? I looked down there. Pictures of my family on my desk. And he said, "Where are all your heroes? I didn't have an answer. I didn't know," Beck said.

His friend then gave him advice that Beck said stayed with him.

"He said, "You have to have pictures of the people you look up to. You have to have them in front of you. You have to have them on your desk or on the walls, wherever you're looking while you're on the phone or you're in a meeting. You have to have pictures of people you want to be like?" Beck said.

The idea, according to Beck, was that those figures could serve as a form of moral counsel during difficult moments.

"They can be in your life or in history; it doesn't matter. But people who had the traits and the ability to choose the right path, no matter their circumstance," Beck said.

His friend warned that the hardest ethical decisions are often not obvious cases of right and wrong, but moments when the wrong choice looks profitable, convenient, or only slightly questionable.

"But the slightly wrong ones, and they're going to need an answer immediately. There might be a crisis. Answer right now. I need an answer," Beck said.

According to Beck, keeping heroes visible can provide a powerful reminder in those moments.

"He said, if you have those faces in front of you, and you've carefully chosen them for all of the traits that you want, they are your counsel. When you're pushed, you will look down and see their faces, and you will instantly know. Nope, wrong choice," Beck said.

Beck connected the advice to the Roman philosopher Seneca, who offered similar guidance nearly 2,000 years ago.

"He says, 'Pick a good man, and always keep him in front of your eyes. Live as if he were watching you all the time. Do everything as if he sees it," Beck said.

Beck said Seneca’s broader point was that people need a standard against which to measure themselves.

"Because you can't straighten a crooked line without a ruler," Beck said.

He argued that the principle remains especially important in an era dominated by smartphones and constant digital consumption.

"You will become whatever it is you keep in front of you," Beck said.

He added, "That which you gaze upon, you become. It's true, and look what we're gazing on. We're watching it happen with our kids as they're staring at their phone. That's what they're becoming."

Beck said he took his friend’s advice and began keeping photographs of people he admires on his desk.

Among them are Raoul Wallenberg, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Pope John Paul II, Charlie Kirk, Beck’s brother Robert, and his friend John Huntsman.

He described each one in terms of a moment when they made a difficult choice despite personal cost.

"They're all flawed like me. But that's not why they're there. Each one of them is there for the thing they got right when it cost him something, and that's all a hero ever was-not a saint, not a man we're supposed to glorify," Beck said.

For Beck, the value of a hero is not perfection but courage at a critical moment.

"Somebody you look at every day and you go, that guy chose right one time in his life. Maybe he chose right when it made a difference, and it cost him something. When wrong was easier. When everybody said it couldn't be done, he did it," Beck said.

He closed by arguing that American culture needs to restore the idea of real-life heroes rather than replacing them entirely with fictional figures.

"We as a culture have to find our heroes again, and not Marvel heroes-men and women that really lived, lived real lives, and have the scars to prove it," Beck said.

"So, who are your heroes?"

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