Decline of heroism

Decline of heroism

I heard a teacher comment with a lot of sadness that the problem with today’s youth is that there are no heroes to inspire them. She had asked the 15 year olds in her class to write on their hero and most could not get beyond Sachin, Aishwarya Rai and Sania Mirza and some even wrote that they did not believe in following anyone and felt that their individuality was more important than being inspired by any hero. She was a little concerned that we no longer seem to have people who could inspire the youth by the strength of their character and moral rectitude.

Decline of heroism? Don't our youth have enough heroes to show the way?
I was quite surprised to hear this because with the spread of democracy, access and opportunity have opened up for everyone and one would imagine there should be more heroes buzzing all over the place waiting to be worshipped and emulated. For instance, we no longer live in an age when the competition to a Prince- hero pays the price for being equally good by being disqualified from competitions on grounds of gaps in bio-data (Mandatory field: Biological fathers name) or by having a vital part of his body amputated!

Or this very wide open door of opportunity has perhaps resulted in a shortening of the tenure of herohood today. For example before someone creates a record, there is someone around the next corner ready to break it! The exclusivity enjoyed by the Arjunas and the Herculeses ensured longevity of their fame while today’s heroes’ share of the limelight gets reduced to a few days.Is that why herohood is no longer a sought after career – except when it comes with the huge benefits of the Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai variety?

The problem is not that there are no heroes anymore - there is plenty of heroic work going on quietly even in remote corners making a lot of difference to a lot of people’s lives. The problem is that they do not get publicity and recognition that could make them popular enough to act as inspiration for anyone who happens to be in their neighbourhood. Unlike the western media, our newspapers and television channels prefer to use their space on celebrity heroes rather than showcasing these unsung heroes of kindness, sacrifice and leadership. Perhaps the value of their work stands enhanced because of its obscurity. It is the community at large and specially the youth that lose out by not having role models to inspire them.


Roy Williams has written an interesting piece on the value of heores to a society:

"The saying, "The sun never sets on the British Empire" was true as recently as 1937 when tiny England did, in fact, still have possessions in each of the world's 24 time zones. It's widely known that the British explored, conquered and ruled much of the world for a number of years, but what isn't as widely known is what made them believe they could do it.

For the first 1000 years after Christ, Greece and Rome were the only nations telling stories of heroes and champions. England was just a dreary little island of rejects, castoffs, barbarians and losers. So who inspired tiny, foggy England to rise up and take over the world? ......Hoping to instill in his countrymen a sense of pride, a simple Welsh monk named Geoffrey assembled a complete history of England that gave his people a grand and glorious pedigree. Published in 1136, Geoffrey's "History of the Kings of Britain," was a detailed, written account of the deeds of the English people for each of the 17 centuries prior to 689 AD... and not a single word of it was true. Yet in creating Merlyn, Guinevere, Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table from the fabric of imagination, Geoffrey of Monmouth convinced a sad little island of rejects, castoffs, barbarians and losers to see themselves as a just and magnificent nation.
And not long after they began to see themselves that way in their minds, they began seeing themselves that way in the mirror.
Most people assume that legends, myths and stories of heroes are simply the byproducts of great civilizations, but I'm convinced that they are the cause of them. Throughout history, the mightiest civilizations have been the ones with stories of heroes; larger-than-life role models that inspired ordinary citizens to rise up and do amazing things."

So it would seem that if there were no heroes, one would need to invent them. And in our case, we have so many of the "real" ones, all we need to do is to turn the limelight on them.