America and Heroes

I am occasionally taken aback by the way we throw words around. Consider the word 'hero.' I have grown tired of hearing the word applied to celebrities, especially sports figures. Hitting a ball or throwing a pass  does not make a person heroic, Skilled? Perhaps. Calm under pressure? Beyond doubt. But heroic? No way.

I grew up in the era of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, of Bart Star and Jim Brown. I watched the entire careers of Mohammed Ali and Jack Nicklaus. Those guys were as good as it gets. They were thrillling to watch not only for their talent, but for their nerve, their ability to deliver in a tough situation. But, I never thought of them as heroic. They were highly paid professionals, just doing their jobs. No, these men did nothing truly heroic.

Then in the 80s, Bill Moyers brought Joseph Campbell to PBS and the Nation, at least the elite in academia and entertainment, were given a different view of the hero. Campbell put forth the proposition that the hero was one who left the ordinary to seek some undefined thing that he was driven to discover, despite any obstacle. He then came back to teach. Let's look at that by using one of his prime examples, the Buddha.

The Buddha was a wealthy and incredibily spoiled Prince who grew disenchanted with life when he learned that people grew sick and old and died. This, when he was fully grown with a wife and son. That should give you an idea of how spoiled and sheltered he was. He was so upset thatb he abandoned his family and resposiblilites to one and all and disappeared on a spiritual ques, without a word to anyone. His great discovery? Life is often sad and you need to behave well and limit any unrealistic desires you have. I have known men and women, folks who work and take care of their responsibilities who could have told him that and saved him the trouble, not to mention all the angst he must have caused those who loved him. Why is he a hero? Supposedly because he followed his dream of becoming 'enlightened.' Well, if that is enlightened then I have known dishwashers and grass cutters who were easily his equal.

No, to me, he was a selfish brat who ran off to do what he wanted with no thought to anyone. That is closer to psychpathic than it is to heroic.

So what then is a hero? Of course the soldier who sacrifices his self to save his brothers in arms is heroic, as is the person who runs into a burning building to save others. The person who gives a kidney so another may live is heroic.but there are others, on a more mundane level. I know parents who work themselves half to death to support their families. I have known doctors and nurses who worry about patients in their off hours. I have known small businessmen who settle for smaller profits so they do not have to lay off valued employees.

On a personal level, I have to mention my father. He, when I was young, was not a heavy drinker, he was a prodigious drinker. He really did not care about living a long life and would, personally, been happier spending all of his time drinking, reading, playing, golf and gambling on the horses. However, he saw what his drinking was doing to others so, when I was 16 and he was 40, he quit. No rehab, no AA, he simply quit getting drunk. Then after years of abstinance, just to prove to himself that he had willpower, he began, occasionally, to have a drink or two, something that is said to be impossible for an alcoholic. Yet, he did it, and I never saw him drunk again. He sacrificed his desire to benefit others, then took a risk to prove something to himself and others. He is one of my heros, yet to the World, he was a quiet, pleasant, small businessman.

You do not have to, nor should you make artificial heros out of celebrities, and you certainly do not have to look to mythology for heroics. I am sure that you can find plenty of worthy people in your own lives.