Won't You be my Hero Baby?

“Don’t be a Hero”, Jim, a union leader, would be yelling to the small and kind of sad looking crowd gathered around him. This was the number one rule in political canvassing. Of course it related mostly to large dogs, beware of owner signs, and houses that looked like they had landed on the wicked witch of the west. As mentioned in the last speculation, one must always have your running shoes ready in order to escape angry republicans or the occasional hostile laid off worker. The run away as fast as you can policy goes hand in hand with our don’t be a hero rule.

Today’s speculation; Does the don’t be a hero law go against everything we have been taught or in today’s society its that really what life has come to?

I am sure that you can vividly remember the hero’s of your childhood. Whether it was the Power Rangers, a Disney prince, GI Joe, or Wonder Women; we all admired at least one. All of these characters taught us to stand up for our values and for other people. Hell, there was even a hero for the environment, Captain Planet. Every night popular sitcoms would feature an everyday hero standing up to a bully in some capacity or another. And one of adult’s all-time favorite question for kids was always, “who is your hero?”

When did we start saying, “Don’t be a hero”? Today it seems the closest thing to hero’s in the media is Guitar Hero. Nowadays we have TV shows like “What Would You Do?” where they actually test to see if people will step up in the face of injustice and be a hero. In today’s society it’s unsafe to help someone in need on the side of the road and its more likely to see someone sue another person than stand up to them. Where have all of our hero’s gone? Maybe I just can’t recognize them without their capes on.

In my search to define a hero for today’s generation I stumbled upon a website called the hero project dedicated to sharing the stories of heroes everywhere using media and technology to celebrate the best of humanity and empower young people to realize their realize their own potential to effect positive change in the world. To read some of the stories, visit http://myhero.com/go/home.asp

And for all of those unsung and unrecognized hero’s in my life as well all of my readers, a nauseating song dedication. Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler.