I am a pastor who leads children on the South Side of Chicago. I always share two lessons

I recently performed an incredible fantasy scenario. I imagined invited actor Anthony Mackey, who plays Captain America in the film, to honor him talking to the young people I'm mentoring on the south side of Chicago. You can imagine how excited these kids are to meet Captain America in their physical form. They all wanted to touch his shield, so many of them wore temporary tattoos on their faces of his shield.

After Mackey finished signing his signature and took countless selfies, he finally got to his seat on stage. I looked at the kids and saw many of them holding 5×7 cards in their hands. With those cards, they wrote a question they wanted to ask Mackie. “How did you achieve your version of the American Dream?” “Who was your role model in life and why?” “Does hard work pay off?” “What is it like to work in Hollywood, and how did you feel when you landed the role of Captain America?” And On.

After my introduction I handed Mackie the microphone and he was able to impress these young men and women with words of wisdom. Instead, what he said surprised me. He stood up and said, “We're lying to our kids. That's a big problem in our community. If kids do the right thing and get good grades and go to the program, they'll succeed.”

Now, none of the above is true – he never came and spoke to my children. The truth is, he said. I can imagine that if he said those words to my children they would be confused. They sit in silence and wonder if Captain America was telling them not to bother trying this thing called life.

For more information about Fox News, click here

It's a dangerous message to tell a child. It is true and obvious that no one is successful. But isn't life about trying and giving everything about you? Otherwise, you're not going to be anyone sitting in front of the TV.

One of the first lessons I teach when I was younger is that life is unfair. The other lesson is that nothing is promised to you. Michael Jordan sat on his ass and didn't reach where he was. Denzel Washington did not reach where he was by playing video games. A friend who passed the exam and became a police officer despite being single mothers to two boys, did not reach the spot hanging out in the corner.

Everybody I know made the person who made it because they took a chance on themselves. They took that step. Some of them were lucky and met people who were in the right place at the right time or who helped them along the way. But that luck is because they took that step.

Fortune doesn't come to those sitting there.

Click here to get the Fox News app

I can't imagine a worse message than sending kids than Mackie. And what makes it even worse is that he delivered this deadly image while carrying Captain America's denunciation. If he really believed the words he spoke, he might have come out to rethink this role. Maybe he should give that role to someone who really believes in America.

I will never stop my sermon to my youth that they must give them all their lives, they must never give up, and they must defeat them so that it must defeat them. I will never stop them from helping them develop their characters to believe in themselves through good times and bad times. And I will never stop being that voice in their heads that let others know that they believe in them and their potential. That's how you create the leading captain in America.

For more information about Pastor Corey Brooks, click here