Where is my Hero?

I posted a request or invitation of sorts on various internet sites recently asking folk for their comments on what they perceive to be the world most interesting man.
Well a mixed review of comments emerged and I must admit that out of all the comments and suggestions I received few where in my opinion manly things.

This does beg the question about the identity and location of my hero. You see I grew up on ‘Superman’ and this I have had to dump recently after watching two or three of the Smallville series on TV. ‘Rocket man’ seems to have all but disappeared, and as for ‘Spiderman’, what can I say? Would you look up to that kid and try to emulate him. Sadly I think not.

I hear the critics shouting “enough already” he is forty one years old for crying out loud, grow up. But I beg to differ. Superman was a hero through and through. Even the actor Christopher Reeve was a living hero after what he went through. The movie ‘Zorro’ with ‘what’s his name’ Banderas. When I am finished watching that movie I want to ride a horse and swing a sword as well as he does. Whatever happened to the ‘John Wayne’ type characters? And at a push we may (hesitantly) punt ‘Bruce Willis’ a bit here. But the true hero, the one women swooned over, the one they named their children after, those men and women that always won, no matter what the odds. James Bond is still there in a manner of speaking. It all seems to have gone and they will never be resurrected by Hollywood again or so it would seem. We now have, besides the ones mentioned above, the likes of ‘Chuck Norris’ and no offense Chucky but you don’t seem to do it for me in the hero department. Sorry!

We have sport heroes around the world, Armstrong, fought cancer and won, everyone wears a yellow ‘Cancer awareness bracelet’ to support his cause. But as much as I admire him for beating a dreadful disease like cancer, the world seems to forget that he used performance enhancing drugs to win his cycle races. And it is this method of cheating that made him famous in the first place. He has written books on how well he did in the ‘Tour De France” cycle races, how difficult it was for him, bla bla bla. But in the end his winning was by cheating his fellow competitors willfully and on purpose. Is he a hero? I think not.

The 100m American sprinter, his name eludes me right now, (Johnson?) but he was branded the fastest man in the world, we all said Wow what a man. Just look at him go. The world’s fastest man in the 100m sprint, completing it in under ten or so seconds. Now that took dedication and years of hard training and discipline, right? Yeah! but to become the worlds best he took performance enhancing drugs and was caught after the races and had his medals and glory and for that matter his name, stripped and was banned from racing for four years. Is he a hero? I think not.

There are numerous such examples and my question to you is, where does this leave us, the common man in the street? Do we fabricate a hero as they have done for the modern generation by using the media and scandal, ‘Paris Hilton’ springing to mind here, or do we go the cartoon route as so many kids in the east and worship cartoon characters. They all but declared ‘Pokemon’ addictive two years ago. Wow the implications of that!
“Hi my son is ill at the moment, he is suffering from a severe bout of Pokemonitis” – “Ooh yes he will recover, the doctor prescribed bed rest, but said we are not to take his Pokemon away from him as it will cause severe withdrawal symptoms.”

That’s where we are heading. They now legally drug the kids at school to prevent hyperactivity, because the teachers can no longer control them. I was hyperactive and got a hiding to calm down, not drugs shoved down my throat. They are butchering the systems and values we grew up on. It is so sad that Paris Hilton, has become the icon of 2007. Where do the kids go from there? Did you know that ‘Paris Hilton’ was the most “Googled” subject on the internet in the entire World during the course of 2007. Could you just imagine that. She generated more interest in the world than the Iraq war, 9/11 in New York, the tsunami in the pacific. Scary is it not.

Please understand that this is not a “bash Paris Hilton” attempt but merely an example of what we are doing. I have no doubt that she is a wonderful person when you get to eliminate the media hype.

Again my question to you is this…

Where does this leave us?

I will retire to my sanctuary and climb off my high horse, but please in the interim, try and find your own hero and ensure you educate your kids as to why you hero worship those that you do.


Quote :

Would you recognize a Hero, if you yourself did not have any?

Duncan B Taylor
03/01/2008