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An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 1:48:46 PM   
Marc2b


Posts: 6660
Joined: 8/7/2006
Status: offline 		What is a hero? Most of the time it is just an average, ordinary, somebody who gets involved and does the right thing.

A couple of weeks ago there was an incident in my home town. A man drove by a local elementary school, turned around, and came to a stop next to a thirteen year old girl walking home school. When he started to get out of the car the girl ran away and hid behind a dumpster. The man looked for her a few minutes, then left. The girl ran home and told her parents. The police were called and a description of both the man and his vehicle were taken. Parents at the school were informed of the incident as well as the local media.

A few days ago, near another school in another part of town, a ten year old girl was walking to school when a man in a car drove by and waved to the girl. He then turned around and pulled up next to the girl. He rolled the window down and simply told her to "get in the car."  The girl ignored him and kept on walking. The man followed her for a few seconds but then, drove away as she approached the intersection in front of her school.

The crossing guard at the intersection had seen the man pull up next to the girl and could see that the girl was frightened. She asked the girl what happened and then told her to go immediately to the principal’s office and explain what happened. The police were called and – as you’ve probably guessed – the description of both man and car matched the earlier incident.

Later that same day, the crossing guard was coming out of a bank which was near the school from the earlier incident when she thought she saw the same car. The car was coming toward her (which, incidently, meant it was coming closer to the school as well) and the driver was watching some girls walking home from school. Both the man and the car looked like the same ones from the incident earlier that day. She started to call police but saw a police car nearby and waved him over. The man in the car apparently saw this and sped away. Police converged on him and he was arrested a few blocks away.

Police are now certain that he is the same man from the earlier incident. They are also looking into wether he is connected to an incident in a nearby town where a twelve year old girl was abducted from her bus stop, taken to an abandoned house, and raped (that girl got away when she climbed out a second story window when her assailant left the room for a moment).

So far he has only been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and, unfortunately, released on bail. The police say they are keeping a very close eye on him and the number of parents walking their kids to school has definitely increased. Time will tell how this turns out but to me the important thing is the actions of that crossing guard. Thanks to her sharp eyes and willingness to get involved a dangerous child predator may be brought to justice. The mayor plans to honor her officially but in the meantime police have had to ask people to stop driving to her intersection to thank her – it’s causing traffic tie-ups while the kids are trying to get to school.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:04:01 PM   
servantheart


Posts: 960
Joined: 10/26/2006
From: Houston, TX
Status: offline 		It's a scary world that we raise our kids in.  Thank goodness that crossing guard picked up on what was happening and reported it.  Thank God the children that creep approached weren't persuaded to get into the car with him. 

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:30:21 PM   
popeye1250


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Joined: 1/27/2006
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline 		I don't think I'd call her a "hero" just an alert and concerned citizen who was in the right place at the right time.
"Heroism" usually involves risk of life and limb and one's own safety in addition to overcomming some type of bad or dangerous situation.
That's not to say that what she did wasn't very important but there wasn't much "courage" required in it.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:37:16 PM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		This whole hero worship stuff is irksome, isn't it? Nobody's a hero. Some people do courageous things for others, some people put their lives on the line for others, some people are generous to others... they're not heroes, they're human beings doing the right thing.

Otherwise, heroes are just another charming aspect of Greek mythology.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:39:44 PM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
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From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		Funny you should say that kittinSol I had a lengthy discussion with bob about this and it turns out I'm wrong.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:42:15 PM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		You don't believe in heroes, you must be a heartless iconoclast  .

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:44:53 PM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
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From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		Isn't a hero someone you aspire to be or someone you realise you never will be?

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:46:29 PM   
celticlord2112


Posts: 5732
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quote:

I don't think I'd call her a "hero" just an alert and concerned citizen

Why not call her a hero?  She chose to act when she could have done nothing and no one would have called her to account.

Ronald Reagan said it best:
quote:

We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter--and they are on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.


She did a good thing.  That's heroism enough in my book.




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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:46:56 PM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		I thought a hero was a masked overmuscular bloke in tights that little boys wank over.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:47:26 PM   
Emperor1956


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quote:

kittinSol:  This whole hero worship stuff is irksome, isn't it? Nobody's a hero. Some people do courageous things for others, some people put their lives on the line for others, some people are generous to others... they're not heroes, they're human beings doing the right thing.


No.  A person who runs into a burning building to save another is a hero.  Raoul Wallenberg was a hero, as were the 1000s of unknown people who sheltered those sought by the Nazis.  People taking risks against their own interest for the betterment of another are heroic.  This crossing guard did a good job, but she's not a hero.

E.

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"When you wake up, Pooh," said Piglet, "what's the first thing you say?"
"What's for breakfast? What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:50:43 PM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		I disagree, so no. Ordinary people do extraordinary things - they're to be admired, but to call them 'heroes' makes them sound like Marvel Comics creatures and it actually cheapens their actions in the proceed - makes them sound like copy material for a cheap newspaper.

But there's no discussing taste, I hear  .

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:51:15 PM   
lronitulstahp


Posts: 5392
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quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

I thought a hero was a masked overmuscular bloke in tights that little boys wank over.
ummm...i was pretty fond of Superman too and don't get me started on He-Man(sigh) Danger Mouse had his moments......
 

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:51:21 PM   
Emperor1956


Posts: 2370
Joined: 11/7/2005
Status: offline 		or is it "A Hero ain't nothing but a sandwich."?

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"When you wake up, Pooh," said Piglet, "what's the first thing you say?"
"What's for breakfast? What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:53:15 PM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		Heroism is so subjective so I tend to think people are heroes if people think them such. Some people can agree on common things considered heroic too.

"Coward - One who in perilous emergency thinks with his legs." Ambrose Bierce


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えへまにんへえや
Nobody wants to listen to the same song over and over again!

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:53:19 PM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
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quote:

ORIGINAL: lronitulstahp

ummm...i was pretty fond of Superman too and don't get me started on He-Man(sigh) Danger Mouse had his moments......
 


Why doesn't that surprise me  ? (First and only man in tights I fell in love with was Peter Pan.)

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:55:25 PM   
Emperor1956


Posts: 2370
Joined: 11/7/2005
Status: offline 		no, kittin, just because other people misuse a word, it doesn't cheapen the word, just the thoughts that misuse it.  I think  "Hero" is a legitimate term with real meaning, if you don't over use it and ascribe heroic overtones to ordinary motivations.  And by the way, you keep confusing "Superhero" with "hero", another way words get misused -- they mean two different things.

E

_____________________________

"When you wake up, Pooh," said Piglet, "what's the first thing you say?"
"What's for breakfast? What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.

(in reply to kittinSol)
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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 2:56:13 PM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		Peter Pan a man?

There must be someone really called Peter Pan who gets such stick.

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えへまにんへえや
Nobody wants to listen to the same song over and over again!

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 3:04:43 PM   
lronitulstahp


Posts: 5392
Joined: 10/17/2007
Status: offline 		Robin Hood...if it's a guy in tights
although, i must admit to being oddly attracted to Eddie Izzard...pretty sure he may be sporting some from time to time....

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 3:08:50 PM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		The cure for being attracted to Eddie Izzard is to see him try to act in films such as "My Super Ex Girlfriend."

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えへまにんへえや
Nobody wants to listen to the same song over and over again!

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RE: An Ordinary Hero - 5/9/2008 3:12:41 PM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Emperor1956

And by the way, you keep confusing "Superhero" with "hero", another way words get misused -- they mean two different things.



Incredibly, I am aware of that  - considering postmodern culture with the cold eye of an old world relic, however, I would say that the hero/bastard, good guy/bad guy dichotomy is more alive and better than ever, and that stereotypical extremes are held as universal truths - when they are merely archetypes.

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