Need a Hero? I have a few that I am not using!

Been a while since I popped anything of any ‘importance’ in my blog here. Of course, some people would say that to this point, I never have! Anyway, thought that while sitting at work, I may as well get onto the keyboard and hammer these keys a bit, if for no other reason then to let people know that I am still the outspoken and opinionated cuss that I am.

I have been thinking, for some time now, about the word “hero” and how over used it is. I really haven’t done much on that, because it seems to have been settling down, since attention has been being pulled away from the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts, to the political and economic theatre that we find ourselves in at this time.

I suppose, in that regards, presidential candidate, Senator John S McCain is often called a hero, because of his service to his country as a naval aviator, and his subsequent time spent as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton during the Viet Nam conflict. I am not one to say anything about such service, because that was many many years ago. However, can one say that a person that was once a hero is always a hero?

We love to toss that word around. If someone is a cancer survivor, they are a “hero”. If the person enlists in the military, the are automatically a “hero”, whether or not that person dives on a grenade to save fellow soldiers, or is in the rear with the gear at a supply depot stacking toilet paper. A person is a “hero” if they run 80 yards for a touchdown, or if they run into a burning building to save a dog. Now, would that person that run into the burning building be any less a hero when they are wearing full firefighter turn out gear and have the back up of a number of other firefighters who are pouring water on him, or if he is a homeowner wearing flip flops and boxer shorts? Does training and equipment make a person less of a hero, or more of one?

I have often wondered, when we call stay at home moms “heroes”, thus giving that label of the brave and the exceptional to thousands upon thousands of persons, would that detract from those that have dived into ice filled rivers to rescue people from drowning? Or those that have climbed steep slopes to help a person that has fallen and broken limbs and are in danger of freezing to death? When we call all those people “heroes” are we not detracting from those that have honestly put their own lives and bodies in jeopardy to assist someone that they do not know, to the benefit of a person who is doing something that they always do for a person that they do know?

Words have power and words have meaning. But too often we use these words so often, and in ways that they should not be used, and thus lessen their meaning. And, when we do lessen the meaning of a word such as “hero”, then we lessen the meaning of what a hero is, and thus lessen the true heroes among us.

We all sacrifice from time to time ( at least, I like to think that we do ), and thus in the way that the word is viewed nowadays, are being “heroic”. But, being heroic is more then just making a sacrifice. There must also be a risk to that person. And not just of money or of property or of reputation, but of actual life and limb. And, that risk of life and limb must be in the self-less act of trying to help someone else. Me sticking my hand into a snake pit to pull out a diamond does not make me a hero, even though being bitten by a snake could easily mean loss of a limb or my life. Now, if I was reaching into that snake pit, to grab a snake, who will provide the anti-venom needed to save the life of another that was bitten prior by a snake, then that could be considered “heroic”. But, if I am doing this to gain material gain by harvesting snakes for the anti-venom, to sell to hospitals to keep on hand for the time that someone is bitten by that poisonous snake, am I any less or more “heroic” because my action is less altruistic and more materialistic?

In any case, I really think that we, as a society need to quit calling everyone from mail carriers to dog catchers to doctors to basketball players (etc) heroes. Unless that basketball player is running into a burning building to save an infant, he is not a hero just because he can dunk the basketball. The more we use the word, the more we lessen it’s importance. And, do not even get me started on "Guitar Hero"!!

(Originally posted October 13th, 2008 on Yahoo 360)