I generally don’t have a lot of time for debate, but I’ll ask anyway. What is a ‘hero’? (And no, I’m not talking about a sandwich.) In another thread one poster said that ‘everyone who enlists in the military and risks their life for their country is a hero.’ In a news report a couple/few years ago a female soldier said that someone was a hero and then added parenthetically ‘Well, we’re all heroes.’
I disagree. In my opinion a hero is ‘someone who displays remarkable courage’. Don’t get me wrong; people who sign up for military service in time of war are not cowards. I may disagree with why they’re signing up, but I don’t doubt their courage. I just don’t think they’re ‘heroes’. I think a hero is someone who performs an heroic action that is ‘above and beyond’ the norm. In a war situation (in which I’ve never been, BTW) people must make split-second decisions and take decisive actions while at risk of life and limb. But that’s ‘normal’ for the situation. I don’t think taking part in a battle is ‘heroic’. Not that it isn’t hard, frightening, and risky; but not like an unarmed corpsman rushing out to administer aid to a fallen soldier while the enemy is still shooting or someone who throws himself on a grenade because it’s the only way to save the lives of his comrades. I hope you’re getting the distinction, as it’s difficult to nuance a text post on a message board. I’d call the corpsman risking his life to save another a hero; the person who enlisted and works in an office in a rear area, not so much.
It just seems to me that if everyone is a hero, the meaning of the word is diluted.
A hero is someone who is not any danger, who voluntarily puts themself in danger to help save someone, ideally someone they don’t know. A soldier can be a hero in certain situations, but is not a hero just by by enlisitng.
I would say a mix of your idea of going “above and beyond”, as well as an element of self-sacrifice; a hero needs to accept a risk (or even a certainty, to be more impressive) that they will lose something through their actions in order to gain a chance at a greater good.
Soldiers are certainly brave, I wouldn’t go so far as to say all soldiers are heroes. Heroism seems (to me, anyway) one of those qualities that’s been diluted recently.
A hero does the right thing even when they have to sacrifice a lot for it. Standing up to the government for equal rights by sitting in whites only resteraunts was heroic, but it doesn’t even have to be that dramatic.
To me, the opposite of heroic is not cowardly or villanous. It is economical.
A heroic action is one done knowing that the cost of doing it will be greater than the reward that will come out of it. The hero assumes the cost and someone else gets the reward, which makes it ok for the other person.
I’m not so sure that risk is necessary. If a mother with an abusive husband packs up and takes her kids out of the abusive home in the middle of the night, there’s a risk involved in her heroic act. On the other hand, if she does the same while the abusive husband is away on a business trip, she is still a hero to me. The same goes for a judge denying custody to an abusive parent. No real present risk, but a good deed that stops suffering makes someone a hero. Also, a counselor who finds a way to make the abuser stop the behavior.
So I would say a “hero” is anyone who takes action to put an end to some sort of suffering or danger.
In classical terms, a hero is someone like Herakles or Achilles or Odysseus – not necessarily a good person in moral terms, but someone who is extraordinarily strong, brave, and/or clever. And usually proud and aggressive. When Odysseus’ host Alcinous asks him if he is a merchant, he indignantly denies it; he is no ignoble haggler, he is a pirate who takes things by force.
Well, if you’re going to bring in definitions other than the “common term” one, then the term “hero” can also be used synonymously with the term “protagonist”. It’s anyone or anything that is being presented as the having the primary or correct perspective on things, pretty much regardless of what that perspective is.
I’d say that a hero is someone who either makes an extraordinary sacrifice for others, commits an act of extraordinary bravery for others, or accomplishes something of extraordinary benefit to his people or the world at large.
I would say that my interpretation of the word Hero is pretty much the same as most of the posters,that is someone who puts them self at great risk of death or serious physical harm for the greater good.(Not just enlisting or being sent into a war zone)with the addendum that they are aware of the danger that they’re putting themselves into and have to actively overcome their own fear to carry out their actions.
This is very general but, I think, on the right track.
To be a hero, I think there must be the following:
Nobody around is doing the action. (Enlisting when others are as well is ‘brave’ but not ‘heroic’)
There is great harm/death/risk of severe pain in doing the action.
The action must be for someone/people that you have no direct vested interest in. (saving your son…well…that’s good…but saving a strangers son…heroic)
The hero must act ‘smart’ in performing the action. A successful hero is greater than one who fails. Now failed heroes are still heroes…but ones that succeed are even more so)
A hero may not initially act heroic, but embraces the action with fervor once he/she has thought about it.
My hero, when I was growing up, was Schindler (this was way before the movie). I am not Jewish, did not know Schindler…but when I read about him it was MAN…this was a HERO!
I also think most people confuse rolemodel with hero. A Hero you hope to be like if in a situation that needs it. A rolemodel is someone you try to emulate in the mundane thing called life.
Al Gore may be a rolemodel…but he isn’t a ‘hero’. This is not an insult. Rolemodels are as important as heroes.
a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.