My Hero

I've had comments about my writing skills on this blog --and thank you very much for the compliments.

I do like writing and I'll admit to working on a story that right now is closing in on 20 years of ideas and planning. Fortunately, it's not for a single book otherwise I could go down in history as one of the slowest writers.

Ever.

No, I'm actually working (gawd, this sounds worse!!) on a character and plotting out how he works. How he is or isn't a hero. Because that's important to me. That he's a hero.

The Canadian in me gets quite annoyed with the 'Americanism" of the word "hero." It seems just about everyone who's ever made the news in a good (or at least not 'bad') way is at some point termed a 'hero.' I think every astronaut in existence has been termed a 'hero' at one point or another. Some, I agree, a historical figures like Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. But heroes?

Are they labelled heroes because they bravely made their way to space? Who wouldn't give their left nut (women can think of their own item... ;-) ) to go into space? Bravery is one thing, but is it the be-all and end-all of being a hero?

Bill Murray recently said that he doesn't think of his latest character in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" as a hero. Murray sees a hero as someone who does something they don't want to do and his character is doing exactly what he wants to do. That contradicts with astronauts being termed heroes. They trained specifically for going into space. Again, something they wanted to do.

9-11 could be a huge source of controversy. the police, firemen and rescuers of all types are definitely heroes. Those that rushed the cockpit to save lives? Heroes.

I think George W. Bush actually referred to Tom Ridge as a hero. Why? How does coming up with a 5-color scale of terrorist threats make him a hero? It was, sadly, his job to come up with something (I guess) like that.

So what makes a hero to me?

A hero is someone who risks their own life to save another's, regardless of whether or not they've planned on saving a life. A hero is someone who takes the lead and show by example the importance of life and the sanctity in which it must be held. A hero will sacrifice. For anyone.

So my hero may be reluctant to put his life on the line but he learns the importance of doing so. But my hero also sacrifices. He is placed face-to-face with death in order to save others. And, when he is called upon, he leads others.

And he'll learn that even when he thinks he's sacrificed all he can he's nowhere near done.