On heroism, and the word hero
I'd never heard the story of Rafael Peralta. And it's disgraceful that so few of us have.
Could the meaning of the word hero be more diluted?
A check on Google News turns up about 13,800 stories that use the word hero, as of this writing. Let's go down the list to see how it is used:
'Abuse' soldier 'obeyed orders' -- A UK soldier accused of abusing civilians in Iraq is a war hero who had been obeying orders, a court martial has been told.
Hoggard the reluctant hero -- Overseas players developed in county cricket used to be a perennial whinge whenever the Test team were knocked over by the West Indies in the Eighties. But what of a Yorkshireman honing his craft in South Africa and then coming back to demolish the national team at the Wanderers – charges England's latest hero, Matthew Hoggard, is guilty of on both counts.
North Middlesex teacher named 'Unsung Hero' -- TOWNSEND -- North Middlesex Regional High School Principal James O'Shea was notified that Julia Bressler, a teacher at the high school, was nominated as an "Unsung Hero" in the Saint Michael's College's teacher recognition program.
I'm not trying to be snarky. (I'll leave that to Ace or Jeff.) But I think it's sad that our media has polluted the language with so much meaningless chaff that there is no distinction between a man like Rafael Peralta and a) an embarrassingly abusive prison guard, b) a particularly skilled cricket bowler, and c) a teacher who "provide[d] [her] students with the academic skills and moral support necessary to be successful in post-secondary pursuits."
Abusive prison guards as heroes? Right. Even in the most favorable light -- assuming the man is, at worst, guilty of taking things too far with a terrorist scumbag -- he's a man doing what needs to be done. And a cricket player? Sure, I say let's celebrate our sports stars. How about champion? (Incidentally, I think champion is a fine word that should be used far more often. "Clearly superior or having the attibutes of a winner." Yup. It's a good one.)
And look, it's nothing off the teacher. I'm sure she's great. But is "hero" really the most apt moniker for this kind of honor?
I've been lucky enough to have some fantastic teachers in my life -- but I also think they would all bristle at the label of "hero". My freshman geometry teacher in high school was one of the most enthusiastic, brilliant teachers I've ever had. She escaped South Vietnam with her father -- who, we gathered, had been a high-ranking military figure in the South Vietnamese army -- and immigrated to the US, not knowing a word of English, but eventually getting her master's and landing a job at a great private school in Houston, Texas, where she was respected, admired, and honored year after year because her ability to hold her students to a high standard and keep them interested in math at an age where the teenage mind is naturally inclined to keep algebra and geometry as far from the forefront of the mind as possible.
She probably would be mortified to be called a hero. Although she would have enough grace to understand what you meant and not make you feel bad about it. And then encourage you to go to the thesaurus and find another word. And then you'd probably feel ashamed about the fact that a woman who didn't speak a word of English until she was fourteen was schooling you in the vocabulary of your native tongue.
Call her excellent. Or accomplished. Masterful. Even superior. But hero? It's almost an insult to the word itself, to use it so clumsily as to completely miss its meaning. And how much more wonderful would it be to the teacher, to be told that she's so well respected and skilled that she deserves an honor that expresses that praise?
I suppose we're so inured to the idea that anyone is superior, that we wouldn't fathom stratifying people like that. Or maybe it's that we don't really want to think about what we're saying.
I think we have to face a sad fact: the word hero has been hijacked. Its reputation is unassailably positive, so elevated in its status, yet its usage is so common and threadbare, so vague and ill-defined, that its descriptors have to do little to justify its use. Hero has become the perfect word for a society that pays its members praise without having to invest any thought into what it is actually praising people for.
Meanwhile, we'll just have to keep studying this great language of ours to find better ways of expressing just what true heroism is -- like the story of Rafael Peralta, so that his death will be understood, felt and appreciated for the brave act that it was.
Posted by Matt at January 19, 2005 9:18 AM
