So what is a hero? And who is one? Too often, we instantly elevate people who have died tragically as heroes. I feel terrible that six construction workers died after the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore a few months ago. They were victims, not heroes, and they each suffered a horrible and unfair death. The heroes are the ones who quickly stopped drivers from entering the bridge so they would not also become victims.

In today’s world, full of cynicism, character assassination and snarkiness, how do you define a hero? Yes, I know you will “know one when you see one.” But the usual parameters are more difficult to define as we increasingly polarize ourselves against each other.

That is sad. We need heroes to look up to, to inspire ourselves and our youth: to feed a nation that continues to divorce itself from any semblance of unity. In our rapidly growing divide, we find a raging economy but also coupled with a budget deficit, national debt and inflation that is not going to be rectified without some type of international crisis. The money is soaring through the economy and yet, everyone complains they do not have enough. Where is the hero that shows us all that we are all nuts, that we are missing the obvious: opportunities are everywhere and so many have discovered a college degree is no longer the only barometer or the key to success. Instead, it is those who are using the tools at their disposal – the computers in their homes, their cell phones, increasingly, AI – to identify new ways to thrive or start a business. I’m not talking about scams although they are widespread. Perhaps a hero will come forward to weed out and identify scammers. But in our action-packed media, we have come to define heroes as comic book characters. Another Superman movie is being made. Why? Another iteration of Batman? Stop! Marvel Universe is in decline as too many fans got burnt out on a diet of action heroes versus villains.

The real world needs heroes, people who are leading when others are following or fearful. That’s what we need. Heroes with vision, a strong moral compass and fearlessness. But will we know the hero from the con artist? That is the question. The world used to agree on the model for a hero. These days, too many disagree on the direction we are going in, so how do you identify a hero when we do not agree on the path we are on? Political view and social strata are two major drivers that may determine how people agree or disagree on the hero.

Joseph Campbell, the author of the book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, wrote extensively on the hero in literature and myth throughout world history. In his book, he discusses the monomyth, or the hero’s journey and adventure. He writes:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

The steps Campbell outlines are the Hero’s Adventure:

• Begins in the ordinary world
• The hero receives a call to adventure and departs the ordinary world
• He/she will cross a guarded threshold with the help of a mentor where he/she will enter a supernatural world where familiar laws and order do not apply
• Will be tested along the way on a road of trials and is sometimes assisted by allies
• Faces the ordeal as the hero encounters the greatest challenge of the journey
• Will receive a reward if successful
• Will face a metaphorical death and resurrection
• Will return to the ordinary world, facing more trials
• On the hero’s return, the reward may be used to improve the ordinary world

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was a scholar (Dartmouth College and Columbia University) who studied the myths and accounts of Promotheus, the Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Oedipus, Achilles and many more. George Lucas discussed how Campbell’s writings helped him shape the storytelling arc for the Star Wars franchise.

Lucas had long studied and admired Campbell’s writings back to the beginnings of his research for the screenplay for Star Wars. In time, he would refer to Campbell as “my Yoda.” Campbell famously wrote about the need for people to “follow your bliss.” Lucas reinterpreted this in the Star Wars episodes as the now famous line, “Use the Force” to guide the film’s characters in finding the truth or zoning in on discovering what is important and true and pure.

In a famous 1988 television interview (Joseph Campbell and the power of myth) between Lucas and journalist Bill Moyers, Moyers asked George Lucas about the mentors in his life and Lucas named his father, Francis Ford Coppola (he “taught me how to write screenplays”) and Joseph Campbell “who asked a lot of the interesting questions and exposed me to a lot of things that make me very interested in a lot more of the cosmic questions and the mystery…but I hadn’t focused it the way I had once I got to be good friends with Joe.”

I am not implying we need to use these principles of Joseph Campbell when we think about what it takes to be a hero these days. But it seems like his basic premise is this: An ordinary person is placed in a stressful, dangerous situation and performs heroically – perhaps saving lives, or just identifying peril that can be removed or mediated. The world he/she returns to (perhaps for only a few seconds) is now safer and lives have been saved or improved.

We don’t live in ancient times but many still enjoy movies beyond Star Wars that explore this ancient myth of the hero’s journey. From superheros to ordinary people, we love a novel or movie that transports the ordinary protagonist into a hero or force for good. In the movie Rear Window, the hero (Jimmy Stewart) does not even go on a journey; because he is wheelchair-bound, he makes his “journey” right in his house looking out at his suspicious neighbor, played by Raymond Burr. There are thousands of examples of heroes in literature and movies. Beyond Star Wars, Harry Potter, Rocky Balboa, Huckleberry Finn and Neo of The Matrix are just a handful of examples.

We don’t agree on trustworthy news sources (News vs. Fake News) and we no longer rely on a common news source. Newspapers, almost gone. Magazines, barely hanging on. Network news vs. online opinions that may be highly biased but have no gatekeeper weeding out the questionable from the obvious.

So, it’s difficult to find a hero these days. The true hero would be the one to unite the country, solve the world’s problems and save humanity from climate change. Good luck with that, Superman.

Therefore, we must set our sights a bit lower. Sure, there are many professionals working hard to cure diseases, find the solution to climate change, invent safe robotic surgery equipment. Solve starvation in a world of plenty. End poverty in a world of homelessness. Deal with mental illness in a world of increased alienation and divisiveness. The more information we generate as a society, the less unified we become. Is this natural evolution? Damn. How the hell does a hero even begin to break through all the noise?

I realize there are everyday heroes, the ones who pull victims from car wrecks, save families from a house fire, sacrifice themselves trying to clear the World Trade Center before its collapse. These are the reactive heroes and we are so grateful they are in the right place at the right time.

The Superman myth is what we clamor for. But the real world turns to the one who appears with no magical powers and somehow figures it out, how to save people. Oskar Schindler who saved hundreds of innocent citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, from the Nazis. Perhaps Abe Lincoln who fought to keep the American States United and had no plans for retribution against the South. Alan Turing, mathematician and computer scientist whose expertise in code-breaking during WWII saved untold lives.

And as I search my own mind, I can find no one right now who seems to fill that role right now. Favorite musicians, writers, tech leaders, sure. None I would define as a hero. My heroes from the past include FDR, Einstein, Walt Disney and the Allied Forces of World War II, American, British, French, Australian, et. al. who saved the world from Hitler.

As Paul Simon sang, Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

I’m still waiting for a hero. God knows, we sure need one.

Chris Ebel
6/29/24

Image credit: @bizior