So who is a Hero ?
I ask this question many a times to many a people and I am surprised by the answers I get. Some people take refuge in old fable/stories from Hindu mythology – Ramayana and state hero as someone like Ram who fought with Ravan thus celebrating victory of good over evil. Or Arjun from Mahabharata who fought with Pandavas to take revenge.
Some people equate Hero with someone with extra power and skills – it could be a super hero like Krissh, or spiderman, or someone who can woo girls, win a loosing battle, etc etc. Bottom line is – A Hero is somebody extraordinary, talented and gifted.
To me this is the biggest myth we have been made to believe since ages. Irony is we still teach this to our children. We pass on this white lie about Heroes (Not to say that most of the time Hero is a He and not a She ?)
To me Hero is all of us – common human beings.
By giving that extra power, extra gifted from god and other such adjectives, we only make our self belief in us less. A hero is not someone who is extra talented. A hero is someone amidst us, but someone who is not blaming others for his/her problems and taking charge of his destiny to drive change.
A hero is someone who is self motivated, initiated and not an arm chair critic. To critique others is the most easy escape route we find and search for a hero to come and help us get rid of our problems . Why cant we make change happen ? Basically majority of us are lazy and hence want someone else to be that hero. If we have to get access road improved to our house/building, we will hardly make efforts but cuddle up to a politician, suck up to him and make him a Hero in eyes of other people ? What extra powers does a politician has ?
This lack of self confidence and lazy ness has costed this nation in a big way. From mythology to current new age, our search for heroes has always been external, but never internal. Why cant your daughter, your son, your father, your sister, your wife, your husband can be a hero who drives change.
If we have to progress as a society, time we start believing in us, and celebrate heroism in ourselves.
Interesting post Ashish….of course ‘hero’ worship, in the most conventional sense, is a global phenomenon….witness the adoration that soccer stars elicit from their adoring fans….and of course the same goes for cricket stars here. Comic book heroism is for kids ( or at least it should be )…but what I find interesting is that most of the really popular ‘heroes’ in the real world are almost never judged by the content of their characters…..it seems to be enough for a ‘fan’ that their hero looks cool on a motorbike, is shown in movies to be irresistible to the opposite sex, earns an inordinately huge salary etc….what have these people really done to earn this adoration? Even athletes that display an obvious visible talent have got to where they are with a huge amount of help from their families and coaches…you could argue that their talents spring from a self centeredness bordering on the selfish, though of course, their long ‘suffering’ parents may want to live the dream through their offspring…witness the tennis stars the William’s sisters and hard line approach of their father…..so….my point is….putting it simply…..why not withhold this sort of hero worship, until at least you meet them in person….they are not busy being famous to please you….you may not even like them in person !
I do however, feel it is fine to have a genuine talent to aspire to…..for argument’s sake, lets say writing….and have authors you admire for their skill with words….but that’s very different….imagine for a moment if you can….an author afforded the same unquestioning adoration that Bollywood stars receive….they aren’t seen in the same light are they? And that despite their talents. They are not ‘brands’ like the movie ‘stars’…they don’t endorse stuff from cement, ball point pens, soft drinks, cars etc and this is how it should be ! In my ideal world you have to ‘earn your stripes’…this means, first and foremost, that you should be decent and honorable, honest and kind ….genuine talent is all well and good….merely being good looking ( an accident of birth ) and with a modicum of acting/dancing talent is really not enough on its own…
The real heroes are doing the ‘dirty work’ on our behalf….I think helping to save the world rates a little higher than ‘looking cool on a motorbike’ !
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/sini-the-quiet-hero/blog/46909/