So this morning

I got to thinking about this:

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember Is thinking, I want to be like them
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done


And I started thinking about heroes. Have we devalued the meaning of the word 'hero'? Is every person who puts a little more effort into something we believe in suddenly 'heroic'?
Hero has meant many things over time. The children of gods and men who served mankind. Dragon slayers. Martyrs, often for causes not even their own.
But, is a person who organizes a protest a 'hero', for example? Are we devaluing the word? And, likewise, when we pass out this 'hero' label, are we then also expecting more from people than we could or would ever give ourselves? Do we expect them to be better, stronger, smarter, more righteous, than we could ever be?

Hero, yes. That word is being used now more or less to describe anyone we respect. Genius too, that seems to be used mainly to describe people who are merely smarter than we are. Now is the time of sensationalism and hyperbole.

:hi: GiC! :hug:

It both devalues the word, and I think is possibly indicative of our depressingly low standards (or in some cases, intelligence), and also swells the egos of the 'heroes' to the point that they can't see through the bullshit, and lose whatever good quality it was people liked in the first place. Unconditional worship is bad for your health.

:hi:

"best X ever!" or "worst Y ever!" without ever considering whether there have indeed been things worse than Y or better than X before, and in fact, a study of history invariably shows that there have indeed been such things. Nothing is new under the sun, but without any knowledge of what came before and what context our societies (and other societies) exist in, we have no sense of perspective. We are accordingly arrogant and self-absorbed.

as well. Both devalued, and watering down the language to less meaningful definitions.

Americans have become so caught up in this bi-polar political system, this idea of black and white, Dem and repub, left and right, that they can't handle things they can't immediately force into one camp or another. It seems like a lack of perspective, a certain laziness of thought, that causes this love/hate hero/villain shit to happen.

"a certain laziness of thought" and blind loyalty to something is right.

when people are disappointed, they turn around completely. And I *mean* inevitably. When you try to force anything to fit in to one of two molds, it will eventually spill over the side, ESPECIALLY a person. It's unreasonable and somewhat pathological to expect someone to be better than you ever could, to expect everything to divide up neatly so you can make a quick choice of right/wrong. So, people always end up disappointed when it falls apart. and they also don't seem to see how they attributed to the development of the monsters they end up 'hating'.

*Pleez don't disappoint us by being not a goddess. Fr'instance, you don't "take a leak" now and then?*

;) :o :D

I don't scratch my ass, or belch, or smoke, or drink, or ever EVER disagree with you. Any of you.

All the TIME. :loveya: :patriot:

But close enough ;)

A hero was not someone you looked up to, someone like whom you aspired to be -- you could NEVER be a hero. A hero was beyond great, a once-in-a-lifetime (if that) phenomenon. A hero was at least partially mythic; less a role model to the rabble than an ideal, a saint (or demon), a god.

Michael Jordan was a hell of a basketball player, but to suggest to an ancient Greek or Roman that he was a hero would get you laughed at if not thrown in the asylum.

in SOME SELECT cases, but I think that it's been taken too far.

And I hear what you're saying :D

but you are the greatest hero in American History -

Lionel Huffs

:D

:P

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

When Baby Jessica fell down that well in Texas and had to be rescued. Many in the media labeled her as a "hero"-- but why? What's so heroic about falling down a well? She was brave during her rescue, but not heroic.

Her rescuers were heroes. They risked their lives to save her. But she most certainly was not.

:P

:P