[mofo1]

Hero. We've all heard that word alot lately. The fire fighters and police in NY and Washington are heroes. The passengers that seemingly thwarted the sinister trajectory of flight 93 are heroes. The rescue volunteers are heroes. The seeing-eye dog that brought its blind master down from the 86th (!) floor of the WTC is certainly a hero. Finally, the pulling together of Americans and our generous outpouring of support can and should be considered heroic. Never in my life have I been more proud to be an American.
I, like most Americans, have been searching for the "bright side" in all of this. The answer, for me, lies in the word and concept of "hero".
We Americans are a shallow lot. For quite some time, we have worshipped as our heroes, people who don't (or shouldn't) quite live up to the moniker. Spoiled rotten movie stars and professional athletes. Corporate executives who destroy anyone or anything in the path between them and the almighty dollar. ****, even Chefs. Some of us get worshipped like Gods. (Not me.) Does anyone else find that silly? A baseball player makes 25 million a year. An inner-city school teacher makes 25 thousand. An action movie star makes 20 million per movie. A soldier qualifies for food stamps. The corporate titan employs an army of lawyers to relieve hiself of the burden of taxes. The small restaurant owner realises that he HAS to cheat on his taxes to stay in business.
The point to this rant is that I hope that America, as a whole, does a little soul searching. God knows I have. I hope we get a little bit better understanding of the things that are TRULY important and pick our heroes a little better. A true hero does not have to be rich or beautiful or blessed with breath-taking athletic ability. It could be your next-door neighbor that teaches literacy classes or that girl down the street that, despite her handicaps, still leads a full, productive life. Please do not consider me "holier-than thou". God knows I'm just as guilty of misplaced priorities as anyone. Perhaps more so. I just hope that we can take a look around and realise What a fantastic country we live in that is chock full of REAL heroes. My 2 cents. Chris

 

[greg]

Sometimes, telling the truth sounds like a rant. One of the few wise things I learned from my father is that in this life, some people are "truth tellers" by nature, and they are generally not well-liked. Not so here, though. I whole-heartedly agree that the heroes of 9/11 were the NYPD, FDNY and, especially, the people on flight 93. It was not their job to put themselves in harm's way, yet they did. I also hopefully agree that people see that heroes are everywhere as a result. Teachers, volunteer workers, the police departments, the fire departments, paramedics, etc.; all outshine the professional athletes, movie stars and musicians some once held high.

 

[anneke]

Interesting to note that these 19 hijackers thought they were going straight to heaven for what they did. Instead they sent hundreds of these 'heros' to heaven. May these kind souls find peace at last.

 

[isa]

Well said Chris.

 

[mikelm]

A nice, and thoughtful post, Chris.

Thanks

Mike