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There's another thread on this board already about this subject, but there's something I think you should all know about this word: "hero".
It's definition has changed.
A "hero", in times past (relatively recent times past), was the name given to the central male character of a work of fiction. The qualities of this man were irrelevant, if he were the central subject of the work of fiction, he was the hero. This was the definition I was brought up with, in fact.
Macbeth, from the play of the same name, is the bad guy. He is also, in the traditional use of the word, the "hero".
It's only fairly recently that the word has been appropriated by culture to refer to real people. It used to mean, quite literally, "the guy the story's all about." He could be anything, really. It's an accident of fiction that most heroes, in classical and modern literature, exhibit the characteristics of personality that these days we would call heroism, such as loyalty, courage, courtesy, self-sacrifice and strength.
This knowledge causes a problem for me when I hear the word used today. There's something weird about hearing a real person being called a "hero". To me, it belittles them. I think people are more important than heroes.
I can't reclaim the word, of course, for some reason, but it's certainly interesting to watch when words fly away from their original meanings. There's almost always a tiny bit of the original meaning left. I don't know why.
America, of course, being the Land of Dreams, is awash with heroes.
I'm from the UK. It's one of the grubbiest, most ordinary, most matter-of-fact and *real* places there is. It rains. It's cynical. Things work, sometimes, a lot of the time they don't. People muddle along. Everything's slightly grotty and naff and often a bit embarassing. Nothing's perfect. It's full of coping and dealing with shit and compromising and being patient and polite. It's too old to go gallavanting off under it's own steam, these days. The UK can't really take heroism seriously, it's too grey and stubborn, heroism is a 3D technicolour SFX extravaganza, all very well, mate, but who's going to take out the rubbish? Who's going to mow the lawn? Who's going to go to the factory to make biscuit tins so the wife can feed the kids? Not a hero.
If there's one thing the UK is quite happy putting up with, it's being uncomfortable. Not exactly heroic. Heroes don't do very well in the UK, everyone hates them. Nobody here trusts someone who thinks they're the central character in a work of fiction. They make everyone else look bad, for one thing, and they don't pay attention, for another.
I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not convinced it's either, but I'm convinced of one thing, the word "hero" isn't some simple thing you can toss out over someone like a gaily coloured hoop.
Heroism isn't just a collection of personality traits. It's a connection to something else, something bigger, or outer, or less true or maybe MORE true. I don't know what, exactly. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not convinced it's either, but I'm convinced of another thing...
Very often things that look "heroic" are really just self-absorbed and a bit simple-minded. Avoiding "heroism" simply on the grounds of that observation has its dangers, of course, but that in itself doesn't invalidate the observation. I suggest.
I look around myself. How much of the the good in the world I see around me was brought about by heroism? Not that much. Not as much as that brought about by the unassuming goodness, common sense, kindness and patience that the vast majority of ordinary
people practice every day as a matter of course.
Not that I can see, at any rate.
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