A friend and I recently had this conversation in email. I wonder what you might think....
He says:
I feel very bad for everybody involved with the project, the families, etc. As a male child of the 60s I grew up enthralled at the whole NASA project -- building Gemini models, posters on the wall, "where were you on 7/20/69", etc. So any space accident hits me right in the heart.
But I cringe when I hear the word "heroes" bandied about in the context of a dangerous job. It seems that "heroic" is an adjective that should be reserved for extraordinary efforts made at great personal cost to protect, preserve or enhance the lives and/or health of others. "Hero" has degenerated into "someone who got hurt/killed doing something that I wasn't willing to do." Take 9.11 for example. There is substantial evidence that scores of firefighters disobeyed direct orders from their commanding officers to stay out of the buildings. They died in the collapse. "Heroes"?
You can't blame the media for running with a spectacular story of human loss complete with witnesses and multiple camera angles. Maybe if it had been a cloudy day, or the shuttle had disappeared over the north Pacific without a trace, the coverage might have been a little more subdued. But it still wouldn't have made the astronauts heroes, at least the way I interpret it.
She replied:
The individual in the WTC who stayed with a woman in a wheel chair when they could have escaped; the firemen who kept climbing those stairs when everyone else was running down; and much as I hate to admit it (because of over-coverage by the media), those men and women on the last flight of 9/11 who tried to stand up and DO something, knowing they were probably going to die in the attempt. These people are, in my estimation, heroes.
There are also many who are never heard of or recognized for their heroic deeds. The single mom (like my mother) who, instead of living off welfare, finds some way to impart a decent life and self-respect to her kids. The guy who stops at an accident scene and renders aid, knowing he might get sued or be injured himself. The father who sticks around and is part of his kid's life, despite the fact he might do better for himself if he took off. Couples who adopt a kid with special needs - or five or six. There is this kind of thing happening every day, and those brave people NEVER are honored with flowers, or lowered flags, or plaques on walls. Schools will not be named for them.
Then, there are people who get up every day and do what they have to do; because it might be the right thing to do; because it's the best they can do. I look up to those people as well.
End of rant.
Like to hear what makes a Hero in your book.
Wasa
Edited by - wasasister on 5 February 2003 0:59:33