Real Heroes

My tattered old Webster’s defines hero as a “legendary figure . . . endowed with great strength and ability . . . an illustrious warrior . . . a person possessing great courage.” There’s another important characteristic of heroes: they place themselves at risk for the benefit of others.

Nobody doubts that definition fits the first responders who rushed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and to the Pentagon’s flame-filled corridors on 9/11. It certainly includes the passengers who rebelled against the hijackers on United Airlines flight 93 in the skies over Pennsylvania that morning. These are legitimate heroes who knowingly placed themselves in grave jeopardy while struggling to save the lives of others.

Yet, in our celebrity-worshipping culture, the word hero has been corrupted to embrace all manner of people who simply aren’t heroic. Record-setting athletes, diamond-studded rappers, auspicious movie stars, and intrepid adventurers out to be the first to accomplish some never-tried feat of daring aren’t heroes. They may be brave, they may have overcome all odds before making it big—but they don’t meet the definition of hero if whatever they achieve benefits no one but themselves.

Real heroes are selfless. Those who serve in harm’s way in this war have that quality in abundance. And so do their families and loved ones at home. Yet they rarely get the attention, coverage, or press they deserve. A firefighter emerges from the smoke at Ground Zero.

from the book American Heroes by Oliver North Copyright ©2008. All RIghts Reserved.
Published by B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee.