Heroes

The whole issue of the labeling of a hero has been bothering me for quite some time now. It comes up about 90% of the time I hear someone being labelled a hero. Then I get annoyed.

For some reason our society has come to equate being a victim with being a hero. To me a hero is someone who risks or even willingly gives up something (the risk/loss of life being pretty much the top level example) for the benefit of someone or something else. That is not how heroes are determined anymore however.

Let's look at some examples:
Example #1: 4 mounties killed in drug raid
Of all my examples, this is the one you could probably make the best case for calling someone a hero. If you were to do so though you would have to extend the definition of hero to include all mounties (and presumably all police officers). These men were on a routine assignment. They did not go in expecting to be shot at (anymore than they would on any drug raid at least). These men were ambushed and killed. It's a tragic thing and I think they deserve condolences but the only thing that sets them apart from other mounties is that they had the misfortune of being given this particular assignment.

Example #2: 9/11 plane victims
In particular I am referring to the victims on the plane that crashed in to the ground (presumably after an attempt by the passengers to gain control of the plane). This one seems pretty heroic as they helped stop a plane from crashing in to a building. However since the passengers had nothing to lose (and in fact by trying to stop the terrorists from crashing the plane, they were taking the only chance they had at not dying) these people do not meet my definition of a hero. Were there people who acted heroically on the plane? I'm sure there were. There were probably even some who gave up their lives to try and increase the chances of the rest of the passengers. That does not make everyone on the plane into heroes however. (nor are any of the people who perished in that terrible tragedy automatically worthy of being called heroes just because they died).

Example #3: Terri Schiavo in a coma
This one baffles me utterly. The poor woman is in a vegative state and has been exploited by the media as well as both the right to life and the dying with dignity camps. It's unfortunate that she's suffered brain damage. It's unfortunate there's a media circus surrounding her. She is in no way a hero though. This reminds me so much of Homer's thinking Timmy was a hero because he fell down a well and now he can't get out.

Example #4: Cassie Bernall shot after saying she believed in God
There are a number of reasons why it is bad to call Cassie Bernall a hero. First, I seriously doubt she was thinking too clearly with a rampage going on and a gun pointed at her. She probably had no idea as to what the 'right' answer was. (Also from a more cynical standpoint if there's a good chance that you are about to die, it's probably not a good time to renounce your faith (esp since, if your beliefs are correct, it should earn you a one way trip to hell)).
A more scary thought is occurs if she did know that answering "yes" would result in her death. I'm sure her family and friends would have much rather that she had saved herself by lying about her faith. If her answer made the difference between life and death and she knew that, it is certainly not admirable that she answered the way she did. No matter how important religion may be in your life, it is not worth getting yourself killed over. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't stand up for your beliefs but sometimes there's a difference between being heroic and being foolish.
Interestingly enough, if you go with the second version of events (i.e. she knew that answering 'yes' would mean her death) then you could make the argument that Cassie does qualify as a hero. I guess my original defintion needs a bit of work (something along the lines of the risk/loss leading to something proportionally worthwhile. If someone was about to get splashed by a car, thus ruining their new outfit and so you threw yourself in front of the car to stop it, you would be acting in a selfless manner and risking your life for someone else's benefit but the benefit doesn't match up with the risk).

I could go on for hours with various examples of people who were labelled heroes simply because something tragic happened to them but I'm sure I've offended enough of you already.

One wonders why we have this need to label so many victims as heroes. I suspect that it might be a way of making ourselves feel better about all the shitty stuff that happens in the world but I'll save that for another time.