Wanted:
Someone to look up to
By Marilyn Gardner
One of the most popular attractions in the youth section of our
public library when I was growing up was a shelf of biographies
with well-worn orange bindings and a silhouette gracing each cover.
As my friends and I read our way through the lives of such luminaries
as Booker T. Washington, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and George Washington
Carver, we learned about courage in the face of adversity. About
the value of persevering against daunting odds in the midst of ridicule,
suffering, or failure. About the importance of sincerity, humility,
and boldness.
In
the process, we learned about heroes.
Today,
heroes have fallen on hard times. The idealism reflected in those
simple biographies has given way to a gritty realism, a cynicism
that tries to strip even the noblest people of their admirable qualities.
"Hero," once a silver-dollar word, has been increasingly
devalued to nickel-and-dime status.
The
result, says Peter Gibbon in his fascinating and inspiring book,
"A Call to Heroism," is a nation skeptical of greatness.
Entertainers and athletes with zillion-dollar contracts have replaced
statesmen and humanitarians on the public's list of most admired
people. Celebrities, he says, "have become our philosopher
kings."
Gibbon,
a researcher at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, traveled
the country for four years, visiting more than 150 schools in 20
states and talking with thousands of students as part of a "listening
tour." He finds them intensely interested in heroes, although
he concedes that the word is hard to define.
His
definition begins with three characteristics: extraordinary achievement,
courage, and the ability to serve as a model. Heroism, the Swiss
writer Henri Amiel said, "is the brilliant triumph of the soul
over the flesh." Conversely, Gibbon adds, "the triumph
of the flesh over the soul makes it hard to have heroes."
Religion,
too, plays an important role in the lives of great people. "More
and more, I find heroes fortified by religious belief," he
states, noting that many heroes of American history "turned
to God to renew their strength and transform their lives."
Some
feminists complain that traditional definitions of "hero"
reflect a male, military model. Even the word "heroine"
usually refers to fictional characters rather than real women. History
books are also short on including heroes of other races.
In
the 19th century, an ideology of heroism flourished. But with the
catastrophic losses of World War I, the concept of the American
soldier as hero reached an all-time low. World War II rehabilitated
the military hero. But Vietnam, widely viewed as a war without a
purpose, contributed to a value shift that led people to reconsider
conventional masculinity and heroism.
In
the wake of Sept. 11, Americans are resurrecting and redefining
notions of the heroic. Yet today's pervasive media culture still
specializes in knocking heroes off their pedestals and exposing
feet of clay.
Gibbon
resists the temptation to blame journalists for glorifying the tawdry.
"They didn't invent celebrity worship or our appetite for gossip,"
he says. Still, journalists who are "quick to pull down the
high and mighty" are not innocent. Neither are revisionist
historians, whose modern biographies are likely to focus on weakness
and scandal. Aberration sells.
Why
do we need heroes? "Young Americans today are raised on nastiness
and told that all leaders are hopelessly flawed," Gibbon observes.
He also laments the relentless concentration on personal and sexual
lives. Putting people once regarded as heroes on trial allows for
no excuses when they fail to measure up. Thomas Jefferson, for example,
kept slaves.
Gibbon's
book emphasizes the importance of guiding young people to more realistic
definitions of hero. He urges students to look beyond the athletic
field, the movie screen, and the recording studio for their models.
"We need to consider a more complex definition of the word
hero," he writes, "suitable for an information age, one
that acknowledges weaknesses as well as strengths, failures as well
as successes."
For
current and future students, any modern equivalent of those orange-covered
biographies on the library shelf must reflect the truth of people's
lives. But they must also inspire.
Heroes,
Gibbon says, "instruct us in greatness ... [and] remind us
of our better selves."
Those
reminders are a gift. So is Gibbon's book. By encouraging a reexamination
of the qualities 21st-century Americans emphasize, he quietly shows
the rewards of recognizing individuals who stand for our higher
self.
Marilyn Gardner writes on family issues for the Monitor.
A Call
to Heroism: Renewing America's Vision of Greatness
By Peter Gibbon
Atlantic Monthly Press312 pp., $25
Source:
July 18, 2002 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0718/p19s01-bogn.html
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