What is a hero?
If you want some well-known, contemporary examples, take Pat Tillman, Martin Luther King Jr., the passengers on Flight 93, etc. If you prefer a general blueprint, then take anyone who strives for a goal that benefits others, at risk to themselves, with no regard to any potential accolades. Such a definition has a smaller application range than you might imagine.
Some firefighters are heroes, while others are simply firefighters. Some cops are heroes, while others are simply cops. Some soldiers are heroes, some are simply soldiers. Certain professions are simply not synonymous with the word “hero,” no matter how much you wish them to be so. In short, not everyone is a hero. However, the media and the government would have you believe otherwise. They understand the value of heroes like no one else. To keep their power, the government presents the world as two opposing sides–black and white in society, liberal and conservative in politics and heroes versus villains during war. Us versus them. If you’re not with us, then you’re with them, and we are going to defeat them because we are the good guys. And to believe otherwise is to be one of them. One of the villains. The bad guys.
It works … unless you understand that life not a Saturday morning cartoon. As such, war is a horrific, brutal creature that does not play favorites. All is indeed fair in love and war, and to believe that God blesses America, Allah commands you to defend your holy land or that your deity of choice favors you over anyone else is the ultimate form of self-delusion–a sick, ethnocentric fantasy. One side is not composed of heroes. One side is not composed of villains. They’re composed of people. Human beings.
Wave your flags. Pray to your deities. Chant your bluntly hypnotic slogans—it won’t change anything. It won’t save a single life or sway victory in one direction or another. It will not change the truth of war, and after all is said, all demonic titles you give to the enemy and all the honorifics you grant yourselves fade while tarnished wisps of humanity remain, an immortal monument to the three pillars of war: greed, lies, and murder.
Aside from generalities, they will sometimes single out individuals for “hero” status. On occasion they get it right, like with Pat Tillman. Other times they get it wrong, like with Jessica Lynch. Say what you will about her courage, but courage and heroism are separate entities, and she did not deserve to be called a hero. She herself said as much. The portrayal of Jessica Lynch as a hero demeaned the efforts of the men who rescued her, the real heroes in this case. Where was their book deal? Where were their morning-talk show appearances? They were absent from mainstream media because the Pentagon knew that their story would not sell as well as hers.
However, the worst examples occur in large-scale tragedies. In the aftermath of the Columbia Space Shuttle explosion, NASA referred to the astronauts as their “seven fallen heroes.” It was a tragedy that befell brave men and women, but what exactly did they do that merits the title of “hero”? They were simply doing their job–what they trained their whole lives to do: go into space. You may argue that they were taking a risk, but how exactly does taking a risk make one a hero? They were not taking a risk to help someone else; they were taking a risk because that’s what their job called for. If you insist that they are heroes because they were risking their lives, then how about other jobs that put their workers in great danger? King crab fishers in Alaska run the greatest risks of dying. A 2005 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the fatality rate of king crab fishers as the highest on the domestic front. When one of them drowns or dies from hypothermia, would you consider them heroes?
I am not looking to demean what happened to the astronauts or anyone else for that matter. By all means honor them. But why must you cheapen the word “hero” in order to do so? Isn’t the fact that they put their lives on the line doing their job good enough? Is a fluffy, undeserved title truly necessary? Inappropriate usage of “hero” drains the word of its significance and that which it signifies: one who does something heroic. “Hero” is a special word, reserved for rare individuals. The status of hero is not a guarantee for miniscule acts or mere chance but, rather, a merit, carefully cultivated and earned. As an automatic title, it loses its merit and becomes just another word while the true heroes fade away.
—Travis Lee is an alumnus of UT. He may be reached at [email protected].
