Heroes....What is the point of being one?

Heroism is more than doing "the right thing" altho that is where it starts. It involves an act of bravery and the risk of self sacrifice to help. protect or save another. Those who are naturally empathetic ("good samaritans") and who are relatively fearless ("risk takers") have a greater proclivity to being a hero altho an act of heroism is not necessarily without fear but rather action in the face of fear as opposed to being debilitated by it. The vast majority of people are too apathetic and uncaring even in situations that do not involve a great deal of risk (like we have seen in videos of people walking by someone who had been struck by a car, etc). Generally heroic acts are not the result of a conscious decision making process but rather are a spontaneous response to a situation to places others in immediate danger. What is the point of being one? It is all about who you are and how you live with yourself for what you did or did not do in situations that you find yourself. Be a hero....

reply to post by yuppa
You do what you do. Somebody else wants to fix a tag on you, that's up to them.

Steven: Do you think that there might be differences in our evolutionary roles as compared to women which might have made a difference in our attitude toward competitive sports, or do you think it more has to do with our socialization?

Warren: No, it definitely has to do with our evolutionary roles. In fact, the socialization gives us the tools to fill our evolutionary roles. They are our building blocks. The reason you played sports like bullfighting and had gladiators is you were telling men you would praise them if they learned how to risk their life and still perform. And those that succeeded were your best protectors and so you had to get men to call it power to have the concussion or the spinal cord injury. So you would socialize them to be disposable. And the reason the subtitle of The Myth of Male Power is Why Men Are the Disposable Sex is because everything in that book is a counter to the belief that men have the privilege. It is saying rather that privilege was the reward for sacrifice and privilege was the reward for disposability. If you were willing to sacrifice yourself, you would be called a hero. The Greek word for hero was "serow," from which we get our words servant, slave, and protector. All come etymologically out of the word hero. This tells in one word the entire story of masculinity.

www.menweb.org...

al·tru·ism noun ˈal-trü-ˌi-zəm Definition of ALTRUISM 1: unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others 2: behavior by an animal that is not beneficial to or may be harmful to itself but that benefits others of its species

reply to post by beezzer


I was wondering if altruism would enter into this conversation. In college this was a topic in one of our assignments, and if altruism actually exists (does a human ever do anything without the expectation of some reward) I said "yes, when an unknown motorist recuses someone on the road and disappears before authorities show up" but even this was argued, as he may have expected his rewards from God in the afterlife.

reply to post by StarsInDust

Altruism would explain the Good Samaratin behavior but which should be the duty of all...but not the "above and beyond" call where one exhibits bravery for potential self sacrifice to carry out that altruism (where many would want to help but stand down for fear of being hurt....while most are doing the mental cost-benefit analysis of being altruistic in the face of danger - the hero is already acting).

I just wish that those in Law Enforcement could figure out and differentiate between Potential Heroes and Bullies before hiring them (and obviously hiring the former - not the later).

Originally posted by randyvs
reply to post by yuppa

 

In my mind if there were to be a point to being a hero ? Then that would remove any possibility of truly being a hero.
I believe those who look to become hero's only achieve arrogance.
A hero.

edit on 2-4-2013 by randyvs because: (no reason given)

wow such a lot of replies and varying opinions. Well I know a hero or a person who does something hero like usually does not intend to be a hero. I am thinking about the way we portray them in the media though. We put a tag on them. A tag that is hard to live up to all of the time,and once labeled people expect them to always act heroic for some reason. Of course real heroes just do it for no reason but to help another. they have flaws and vices just like anyone. I have to wonder though... is that right to label them so? Maybe we need a new term for heroic acts. Sacrifice is a rare thing these days though. I wonder how much the world would improve if we all started helping our fellow man for no reason but to help them.

On a basic level, people are genetically programmed to defend and protect other living creatures proportionately to how close they are genetically to that other creature. Of course, parents will sacrifice themselves to save their children. But the further away something gets from your own genetics, the less likely you are to put yourself in danger to help them (or it). So the hierarchy goes:

Children
Immediate family members
Associated family members
Other people's children
People of your own ethnic/socioeconomic background
Members of the local community
Members of the state/nation
Members of other nations
Humanity in general
Domesticated pets like dogs and cats
Other animals
Life in general

A "hero" is generally considered somebody who does something that puts themselves at risk for other people/creatures lower down the list that they are not directly associated with. The idea is that while saving your kids can be seen as a kind of selfish act to perpetuate your own genetics, saving strangers is generally encouraged as a wonderful thing with the goal of helping perpetuate DNA and life itself.

That's all we're here for, after all. DNA must continue. Order from chaos. We as living creatures are nothing but another clever way DNA has come up with to do that.

In my finite opinion as a mere ant on this planet, heroes exist to bring out the hero in others, my brother.