Modern culture is quick to label anyone a hero, to the point where the word has all but lost its meaning. Successful athletes are heroes. Honest politicians are heroes. People who return lost purses with money still in them are heroes. As Florence King has observed, all anyone has to do to become a hero in America today is fall in a hole and live to tell about it.
Today, such dilution of the title results from two forces opposing each other to an unprecedented extent One is that the world is desperate for heroes. It always has been. We want someone we can could up as an example to inspire us. We want to be part of a race that produces great people who accomplish heroic things; we want to be able to look at a hero and imagine that, with dedication and strength of character, we can be heroes too.
The opposing force, stronger no than ever, is a culture that discourages heroism. While we crave it as always, heroism, so rare in the first place, has become increasingly difficult to find. A society that embraces relativism and multiculturalism is hard pressed to produce a hero. If every view of the world is equally acceptable, there can be no absolute standards of bravery, sacrifice, patriotism, faith, truth, fairness, fidelity, and honor.
And without absolutes, there can be no heroes.
John Perry, Sgt. York: His Life, Legend & Legacy, pg.331
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