It could be argued that: 1- we don’t need heroes, or 2- there are a number of choices available. Not. At least the heroes of yesteryear seem larger than life but the candidates for heroes today – aren’t. But that’s not the critical point.
We all need heroes, including adults. I could get ‘sophomoric’ and say that it depends on how one defines the word – hero. True. And athletes or movie stars, tho’ they get treated as such are not heroes in my determination of what constitutes, defines a person as a hero.
So my definition of a hero is: someone who has gone beyond themselves in some selfless act – that the core reason for the action was to help someone else. Then you get into… what is ‘gone beyond themselves’? And, aiding someone else may or may not be at one’s personal expense. One could easily get into a semantic, definitional battle and never get to the issue. For sake of discussion, I’d define the act as one that may be to the detriment of one’s own position – may be. But the focus isn’t one’s self but another’s benefit.
Back to the issue – we all need heroes and we never outgrow that need. A hero is one who becomes a standard from which we can judge our own behavior. The ‘standard’ is the issue to the issue. And yes, we do need to remember that heroes are human and do make mistakes. However, we seem intent on tarnishing any yesterday hero. Any person that might fill the position of ‘hero’ has a life expectancy of moments.
Also, to answer your question – there is no such ‘type’ as anti-hero. That’s an oxymoron. If it’s anti, then it’s against the word it’s defining. Perhaps that has been part of the problem…. we’ve departed from the definition of and reason for a hero and how it impacts who we are and are becoming.
Heroes are not so evident nor larger than life anymore plus we seem to constantly find contenders for the title with feet of gargantuan clay. We become disillusioned and maybe a tad bitter.
So… what’s the answer? There are heroes but not on the grand scale of ages past. But is that important? I think this issue needs further thought.
