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Heroism is alive and well today
By Tamara Treichel |
January 20, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
IS the topic of "heroes" exhausted?
Doesn't it sound like an old-fashioned essay topic for Western elementary school children? (In America, children often have to write about inspirational figures.)
Yet this topic was again brought to my attention recently by an immensely popular TV series called "Heroes." In essence, it is about individuals worldwide who are shocked to discover that they have superhuman abilities.
They are thus given the chance to save New York from a fatal explosion.
Those are fictional heroes, for sure, but the pilot and the 155 passengers who remained extremely calm as their plane went down into the Hudson River last Thursday after a bird strike were real-life heroes.
We now all live in a world of indulgence, material pleasure and selfish thinking. Capitalist vultures seem - seemed - to be the norm on Wall Street. A mention of heroes might have sent them into gales of laughter. Well, they were the heroes once.
A young teacher named Fan Meizhong in China also ridiculed heroism, saying a teacher need not sacrifice his own life to save his students in an earthquake. "Run Run Fan" fled his own classroom in Sichuan Province on May 12, leaving his students behind.
Indeed, it seems that "every man for himself" has become a universal value.
And yet there're still people who aspire to be heroes.
Gang Zhu, a Shanghainese, is now studying financial mathematics in Mannheim, Germany. He said people need leaders with vision, especially in such financially insecure times when they fear for their money and jobs.
Lynn Zhang worked for several MNCs in Shanghai and is now studying in Germany.
She was influenced by last year's earthquake in Sichuan. "Heroes are still important today because they remind us that at certain times and under certain circumstances, there are people who have unswerving determination and can do what we cannot," Zhang said.
Indeed, heroes come in many forms - generals, kings, basketball players, pop stars and even yourself.
There's a better person in everyone. As the US Airways pilot story shows, anyone may rise to the occasion and be a hero.
Trust the better part of ourselves and the world will be a whole lot warmer.
(The author is a freelancer based in Washington, DC, the United States.)
Doesn't it sound like an old-fashioned essay topic for Western elementary school children? (In America, children often have to write about inspirational figures.)
Yet this topic was again brought to my attention recently by an immensely popular TV series called "Heroes." In essence, it is about individuals worldwide who are shocked to discover that they have superhuman abilities.
They are thus given the chance to save New York from a fatal explosion.
Those are fictional heroes, for sure, but the pilot and the 155 passengers who remained extremely calm as their plane went down into the Hudson River last Thursday after a bird strike were real-life heroes.
We now all live in a world of indulgence, material pleasure and selfish thinking. Capitalist vultures seem - seemed - to be the norm on Wall Street. A mention of heroes might have sent them into gales of laughter. Well, they were the heroes once.
A young teacher named Fan Meizhong in China also ridiculed heroism, saying a teacher need not sacrifice his own life to save his students in an earthquake. "Run Run Fan" fled his own classroom in Sichuan Province on May 12, leaving his students behind.
Indeed, it seems that "every man for himself" has become a universal value.
And yet there're still people who aspire to be heroes.
Gang Zhu, a Shanghainese, is now studying financial mathematics in Mannheim, Germany. He said people need leaders with vision, especially in such financially insecure times when they fear for their money and jobs.
Lynn Zhang worked for several MNCs in Shanghai and is now studying in Germany.
She was influenced by last year's earthquake in Sichuan. "Heroes are still important today because they remind us that at certain times and under certain circumstances, there are people who have unswerving determination and can do what we cannot," Zhang said.
Indeed, heroes come in many forms - generals, kings, basketball players, pop stars and even yourself.
There's a better person in everyone. As the US Airways pilot story shows, anyone may rise to the occasion and be a hero.
Trust the better part of ourselves and the world will be a whole lot warmer.
(The author is a freelancer based in Washington, DC, the United States.)
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