Heroes: From Emerson to Joseph Campbell

Are you a hero?

Benedict Cumberbatch insists 'I'm no hero' after saving Deliveroo cyclist from attackers
Benedict Cumberbatch outdid his Marvel alter ego when he saved a Deliveroo cyclist from a mugging. It emerged last week that back in November, the Sherlock star intervened after seeing four attackers beating a cyclist while he was in an Uber in Marylebone.

Man who snatched AR-15 rifle from Waffle House gunman: I'm no hero
The man credited with saving several lives after snatching an AR-15 rifle from a gunman at a busy Tennessee restaurant has said it was a "selfish" act of self-preservation, and he does not consider himself a hero.

'I'm no hero' said driver who pulled woman from car after fiery crash
An early morning crash on northbound Interstate 495 sent one car into the median and caused another to catch fire, police said. The driver from the car in the median was able to drag the other driver to safety.

On any given day, while watching the evening news, you are likely to see stories of tragedy and catastrophe. Natural disasters, school shootings, political chicanery. And on some days, like a sunbeam through a rainstorm, there are stories of human courage and selflessness. A first responder, a innocent bystander or even a high school student may be asked to go above and beyond. And, for each of us, I suspect it warms our weary hearts when one of us rises above our station and does something unexpectedly wonderful.

Like the headlines above, every day - somewhere on this earth - someone is choosing to act courageously. And, of course, this is good! And it is also good when those courageous folk defer and demurely say "I'm no hero." Isn't it wonderful when such a person realizes how unseemly it would be to claim credit for what any human should rightly do for another in their time of need. Bravo.

And yet, as wonderful as these deeds may be, I do see one downside to such attention. The downside that I see is that it paints a very narrow picture of what it means to be a hero. Of course, each of these were true heroes. But they are not alone, and I dare say that they are vastly outnumbered by everyday heroes that you or I never see or hear of.

What I believe is this. Every day, you have a choice. None of us has a choice about death. It will come to all of us someday. We may be able to either hasten or delay its approach, but we cannot stop it indefinitely.

But, living - that is a choice. You may scoff and ask "I'm living. I wake up and I am alive." Yes, you are alive. But alive is not the same as living life. Living is a choice. How you live is a choice.

There is almost infinite entertainment available to you at any time - day or night. And also, all around you, there is infinite suffering and injustice. We may not always see it, but if we look - it is there. Panhandlers at the traffic light. Sad faces in the grocery line.

What do we do? Surely, no one person can solve all the world's problems. But we still have a choice whenever we see a need. Especially one we can meet. But will we?

And, many of us suffer from deep depression. Others of us have scars from abuse or neglect. It is so easy when we are in pain to withdraw from the world. It is easy to withdraw - and even more difficult to be vulnerable again to those same or even new hurts.

To choose to love again - to choose to trust again - is possibly the hardest choice any of us make in this life.

And close to this, and equally or even more difficult for us - is to risk showing our true selves to an unsuspecting and likely uncaring world.

This world is set up to create matched sets of useful citizens. Individuals are hard to manage - and even harder to control.

But in these dark days - just as in earlier ones - the heroes that are desperately needed are not only the headline grabbing sort of hero - but even more so the everyday quiet ones. Heroes who choose to love and care when many around them do not.

As Emerson famously said, To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Joseph Campbell, in his 1949 work The Hero with a Thousand Faces laid out the classic storylines of most every great movie we've ever seen. So, even if we are not Humphrey Bogart or Denzel Washington, we are still the stars of our own lives.

You may think your life is a "straight to video" kind of movie - rather than a Best Picture nominee. But, there is no other you. If life means anything, it means each of us has a purpose and the will and dignity to pursue it.

I do not promise that it will be an easy movie to make. It may be a tragedy rather than a comedy. It may be a documentary, and not a thriller. But, know this, it is an original and not a sequel. There has never been before - and never will be again - another you.

Some Native Americans believe that babies and the elderly are sacred. Why? Because babies just came from the great Creator, and the elderly are close to returning there. For both of them, the veil between this world and the next is thinner - and they can see more clearly than do we.

Our vision is often cloudy with the worries of tomorrow. Our lives are a mad dash from this to that, with little time to consider what it all means. To even remember from whence we came - and to where we are going.

So, in those classic movies - the ones we love to see over and over - the hero never loses sight of the quest. Through hardship and harm, they persist.

So, in my movie - in yours, we need to remember that the script is still being written. Never forget, like that peasant boy or girl who is lost from their family and lands - who has forgotten that they are of royal blood and heir to a kingly fortune.

Do not forget there is only one you. Make every day one that matters. Love when it is scary to do so. Care when no one else does. That, I believe, is the hero's journey.

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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