2005-10-10
Where have all the heroes gone?
In a song called Sgt. Pepper, Joan Baez asked the question “Where have all the heroes gone?”. This question came up in a business meeting I had last week. Who are the heroes today? In our business meeting, the immediate consensus was that there are not heroes anymore.
I would pretty much have to scratch off many of the top baseball players over the last decade or two. Would you really admit that either Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire are your heroes? Or what about Sammy “the cork” Sosa?
What about “celebrities”? Wasn’t there a time when people were famous because they were heroes? Maybe it is just me, but doesn’t it seem like people today are “heroes” just because they are famous? I don’t know if anyone holds Paris Hilton as a hero per se, but just the fact that she is famous for being famous speaks volumes. I am sure that some people look up to Brittany Spears and some of the teenagers at the mall that dress like her (god bless them) must aspire to be like her. But is she really a hero and is she really worthy of being emulated? I suppose you could say that is seems like there is class of people out there who have made it BIG but have not necessarily done BIG things.
For me, when this question first came up, I had a few thoughts on heroes, my first being Lance Armstrong. As a hero who overcame death itself to resoundingly defeat some of the best athletes in the world in quite possibly the hardest endurance test on earth. The Lance Armstrong story is really sort of the real life version of the Little Engine That Could. For me, the story is so inspiring due to the fact that I have to ask myself what I could be if I applied myself to a goal the way that Armstrong has. What are each of us capable of if we eliminate all the noise, pin our ears back and just do it?
My second thought was of military heroes. We have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003. There have to be heroes from these conflicts. Not everyone can be civil war hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain but shouldn’t we know something of sacrifices being made overseas in the name of our country? I follow the news pretty closely, and there are only two names that I can think of to come out of the recent conflicts, Jessica Lynch and professional football player Pat Tillman. Unfortunately, neither one is really a hero. Both are really victims. Jessica Lynch was captured and rescued, while Tillman was tragically killed in a friendly fire incident. For my money, Collin Powell is probably the closest thing to a hero to come of the military (and/or Washington) in a generation. Powell is a man that I think I would be proud to call my President, for one very important reason, his integrity.
I will ask the question to you. Who are your heroes and why? Is America suffering from an acute lack of heroes today or not?
-- rockabillie at 4:39 p.m.