What is a Hero ?

 

Our society greatly overuses the term "hero". We have a video game series, Guitar Hero. We often speak of sports heroes. Some slack-jawed Cro-Magnons even have "Scott Walker is my Hero" bumper stickers on the back of their pick-up trucks. But what is a real hero? What constitutes a true heroic deed?

I like to watch sports and listen to rock music as much as the next guy. However, I would hardly consider top-performing musicians or basketball players as heroes. Legends ? Sure. Greats ? Definitely. Role models? Sometimes. However, simply being one of the top-performing practitioners in your field hardly qualifies you as a hero. Certainly, one would not consider even the world's most accomplished accountant, scientist, bond trader, or baker to be a hero.

I think that to be a legitimate hero, there must be some degree of personal risk in your actions. You need to knowingly risk arrest, injury, or even death to be heroic. However, even personal risk alone is not sufficient. Practitioners of extreme sports like rock climbing are constantly assuming risk, but they are hardly heroes. Daredevil Evel Knievel often risked his life, and fractured 433 bones in the process, but he would not be considered a hero.

In addition to risking personal harm, truly heroic deeds have a higher purpose. Some people are heroes by their act of saving others. Some are heroes for their role in furthering human achievement. Still others are heroes for advancing human rights and freedom.

Certainly, soldiers on the front-line of a military conflict are heroes. Someone facing enemy fire in defense of their country is a hero in anyone's book. And police officers and firefighters are heroes. These public safety workers often put themselves at risk in the cause of keeping the rest of us safe.

Our astronauts are definitely heroes. Anyone who rides atop an explosive mixture into a vacuum is definitely risking their life. Fourteen astronauts lost their lives in Shuttle accidents. Their high risk is in the name of one of the noblest of causes, the expansion of humanity into the cosmos.

The Founding Fathers of many countries are rightfully considered heroes. Those signing our own Declaration of Independence risked their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor" in a heroic act of rebellion. Gandhi is a hero in the struggle for Indian independence, often risking jail and injury. Simon Bolivar was a military hero in the struggle for independence of Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia from Spain.

Although the history revisionists of the right would hardly agree, history's human rights champions are heroes. Many heroes were created in the US civil rights struggle. Workers registering voters in Mississippi during Freedom Summer were heroes. James Meridith (who integrated the U. of Mississippi) and Vivian Malone and James Hood (who integrated the U. of Alabama) were heroes. Those who led and participated in the Montgomery bus boycott were heroes. Those involved in the Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro were heroes.

Thousands of real heroes come from the ranks of the labor-rights movement. History is replete with beatings, shootings, and imprisonment of early union organizers. In addition to such luminaries as Joe Hill, Samuel Gompers, Mother Jones, and Caesar Chavez many heroes in the rank-and-file risked everything in order to attain safer and better conditions for workers.

Sometimes, people don't go out of their way to be heroes. They are by thrust into that role by fate. The passengers of crashed UA Flight 93 are heroes. The Sandy Hook teachers who tried to protect their students from a heavily-armed madman are heroes.

But politicians being heroes? Not so much. Sure, there are plenty of politicians who were heroes in other aspects of their lives. Bob Dole (WWII), John Kerry and John McCain (Vietnam), and Tammy Duckworth (Iraq) come to mind. And NJ Senator Corey Booker was a hero when he rushed into a burning building to save a neighbor. Rep. John Lewis (GA) is a true American hero. As a civil rights activist, he faced beatings many times for his efforts to end segregation and discrimination.

However, I don't think any current US politicians would be considered heroes for what they have done as an expected part of their job. Not even such impassioned pols like Elizabeth Warren, who fight for economic justice. Not inspiring pols like Bernie Sanders, a champion for the middle-class and veterans. And the self-serving Scott Walker is by no stretch a hero.

A recent group of true heroes are the healthcare workers who traveled to west Africa to battle the Ebola outbreak. Despite the extreme risk to their lives, these brave people provided care to thousands of suffering sick. They battled an awful epidemic. They deserve our utmost respect and support for this important work.

There are plenty of real American heroes doing heroic things every day. They should be honored for what they do to make America a better country. We don't need to make heroes out of people playing music or playing a game or running for office. 

(Originally published by Paul Adair in Germantown NOW, Just Sayin' blog September 29, 2014)