Heroism: why heroes are important
The term “hero” comes from the ancient Greeks. For
them, a hero was a mortal who had done something
so far beyond the normal scope of human experience
that he left an immortal memory behind him when
[5] he died, and thus received worship like that due to
the gods. But people who had committed unthinkable
crimes were also called heroes. Originally, heroes
were not necessarily good, but they were always
extraordinary; to be a hero was to expand people’s
[10] sense of what was possible for a human being.
Today, it is much harder to detach the concept of
heroism from morality; we only call heroes those whom
we admire and wish to emulate. But still the concept
retains that original link to possibility. We need heroes
[15] first and foremost because our heroes help define the
limits of our aspirations. We largely define our ideals
by the heroes we choose, and our ideals – things like
courage, honor and justice – largely define us. Our
heroes are symbols for us of all the qualities we would
[20] like to possess and all the ambitions we would like
to satisfy. A person who chooses Martin Luther King
as a hero is going to have a very different sense of
what human excellence involves than someone who
chooses, say, Madonna.
[25] That is why it is so important for us as a society,
globally and locally, to try to shape these choices. Of
course, this is a perennial moral issue, but it is clear
that the greatest obstacle to the appreciation and
adoption of heroes in our society is pervasive and
[30] corrosive cynicism and skepticism. This obstacle of
cynicism has been seriously increased by scandals
like the steroids mess in sports competitions and by
our leaders’ opportunistic use of heroic imagery for
short term political gain.
[35] The best antidote to this cynicism is realism about the
limits of human nature. We are cynical because so often
our ideals have been betrayed. We need to separate
out the things that make our heroes noteworthy, and
forgive the shortcomings that blemish their heroic
[40] perfection. The false steps and frailties of heroic
people make them more like us, and since most of us
are not particularly heroic, that may seem to reduce
the heroes’ stature. But this pulls in the other direction
as well: these magnificent spirits, these noble souls,
[45] amazingly, they are like us, they are human too.
Again, the critical moral contribution of heroes is the
expansion of our sense of possibility. Heroes can help
us lift our eyes a little higher to build more boldly
and beautifully than others, and we may all benefit
[50] by their examples. And Heaven knows we need those
examples now.
SCOTT LABARGE www.scu.edu
According to the text, the application of the term “hero” has changed over time in terms of meaning.
As compared to the past, the word “hero” now is best characterized as:
