So, who are your heroes?
 

Both of these quotes, in this thread, got me thinking.

When I was a kid, the Astronauts were my heroes. Yeah, I’m a nerd, but great men like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Allan Shepard, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, Jack Schmitt, Ken Mattingly, Ed Mitchell and so many others, were looked up to in awe, by myself, and others of my generation. And rightfully so. These men put everything on the line for something far greater than themselves. I can remember sitting in front of the T.V. in July of 1969 watching man first step foot on the moon. I wouldn’t be seven years old for another few weeks, but even then I knew. These men, these…astronauts…were my heroes. My guess is that most of you won’t recognize but maybe one name that I’ve mentioned, if I’m lucky.

Now we have the likes of Britney, Christina, Justin, 50 Cent, Nelly, Eminem and P-Diddy put out there for us to admire and to adulate. Notice that even though I’ve used no last names, or any other identification, you know them. We’re told to idolize these people. Not because of any great achievement, other than some look better in various stages of undress than others, but because popular culture tells us to. Why? The pursuit of the almighty dollar. Our heroes are now designed, manufactured and mass produced for us. Make no mistake, we suffer for it. For every reason that Art mentions above, we suffer. We suffer as individuals, we suffer as families and we suffer as a society.

Sixate sees a problem with parenting. To a point, I’ll agree with that. I do need to guide my children, and steer them in the right direction. I think that I do a pretty good job, but unfortunately, I can’t be there all the time. The media though…the media can, and is there all of the time. The media that tells my daughter that she’s just so not cool, unless she owns all of Britney’s CDs.

People, and kids in particular, need heroes. But I think that we’ve spend so much time and resources in tearing our real heroes down, that we’ve missed what’s been filling the void. I look, and what I see is not pretty. So, I’m curious. Just who are, or were your heroes? Who do, or did you look up to, and why?

*edited* because I was not an English Major.

I find that I gravitate to some pretty cliche heroes, but people who are nonetheless deserving of adulation.

Nelson Mandela comes to mind. He has such vision, such commitment, such faith, such strength. He went through so much and still came out with faith in humanity, love and compassion for his oppressors, commitment to his vision.

The Dalai Lama, for many of the same reasons - despite having been kicked out of his country he still maintains faith in his vision of returning, while holding on to compassion for humanity, including the Chinese government.

I might admire actors and sports stars and singers, but the only way they're different from me is that they have money and good genes and perhaps a bit of talent. For the most part, they have not transcended anything - they're just normal people in abnormal circumstances, subject to all the same insecurities and faults and flaws.

The people who qualify as "heroes" for me are people who have found a way to embrace and at the same time transcend human nature, who have a deep love for people born out of understanding and identification with our deepest flaws and our essentially divine nature.

Media can sure have a big, not necessarily always positive, influence on kids these days. That's who most of them tend to look up to.
Minimizing the media your children can be influenced by, and reading to them, taking the time to be with them, and really, thouroughly listen to them- and I mean listen to them, they are more likely to be influenced by more positive role models, such as those with non-media careers, and also, you as the parent.

My heroes are the following, not in any particular order:
My son- he is my light that keeps me going
My husband- for loving me and being their for me- my best friend.
My mother- she is a full-charged, smart & wise woman who accepts and loves unconditionally. I thank her for that.
My father- because he always was a great friend and we did a lot together in my younger years- camping, hiking, fishing, and even taking a father/daughter road trip to Yellowstone when I was 18.
My stepdaughter- for her high interest in knowlegde and that she needs no effort to learn anything. She is a happy, content child who will grow up to be a wonderful, independent woman.
Lenedra Carroll- Jewel's mother- who is on a divine path of spirituality and who's book (Architecture of all Abundance) that helped opened my eyes to new ways of thinking and living.
Neale Donald Walsch, co-author of Conversations with God, who asked questions I always had, and was able to simply and beautifully answer them with the help of his co-author. ;)
The troops- even though some don't like the idea of being at war, they still fight proudly for the country they love. That would include my brother-in-law who was in Iraq last year.
The innocent who have lost their lives in terrorist attacks, war, and every day violence. God bless their Souls.
Everyone who is determined and courageous in making their dreams come true, following their hearts, being themselves, working hard for it, and don't take advantage of their success.

Heroes...

I didn't have many to pick from growing up in the 70's. The veil was lifted off innocence so the simple ones like police officers and firemen were put on the back burner.

The astronauts for me were inspirational but not heros.

9-11 taught me that everyone is a hero, we just have to pick out heroic moments and take them when it's our turn.

I try to be the hero for everyone else that doesn't think that they are worthy.

To tell you the truth the only heroes I have/had are those who I know represent the greatest things about humanity on a daily basis. Most who are thought of as heroes are only role models in certain aspects of their lives and when looked at overall are something less than successful IMO.

A couple of my heroes:

An old boss who could have chosen a path that would have led him to riches or fame (or both) with little personal time left over but instead built a family and created a niche in a small company which allows him to be challenged intellectually while providing for his family (both financially and emotionally).

A woman who, wanting to free herself from an abusive husband and provide for her three children, created a career by starting off as a receptionist and taking community college classes in her spare time. Eventually getting her BS and a couple of MS degrees along the way.

Paul Wellstone and Wayne Morse are the first names that come to mind. There are plenty of political figures that have stood up for peace and what's right in the face of terrible press - those are heroes.

Social workers - working at rehab centers, health clinics, homeless shelters, food banks, etc can be the most unrewarding jobs from a monetary and public press standpoint. It's hard work; dealing with people that don't have social skills, or even good hygene, as well as the occassional highly violent person makes these jobs highly challenging.

There are plenty of people to look up to out there, you just have to keep your eyes open.

I was always big into comic books and comic cards, I always would read to take my mind off things and I really enjoyed the storylines. I know this may not follow what you are saying about current heroes compared to the heroes of the past. But my hero was always wolverine form the x-men. An angry loner who was often misunderstood but when the time came you could always count on him. And even though he was brutal he often had a soft side as well. I guess you could call that someone I could relate to but also as a hero.

My hero is my father.
I will be blessed to have half the patience and love he has always demostrated when I am a father.

David Bowie, spirtual, talented and innovative.

I think there is a fine line between respect for someone and regarding them as a hero.

I have been fortunate to be able to look close to home to find a hero. My dad came from a family in which no one had gotten past the 6th grade. He joined the Air Force to get an education, and two doctorates later he retired. He is the most honest person I know. I am grateful to him because he made it possible for me to pursue a dream (a musical career) instead of having to pursue necessities in life.

There aren't a lot of modern celebrities that I think are role models for me. People from the past stand out though...

That line speaks more truth than many know. Like others have said, the "role models" (and I hesitate to call them that--very few of them are) of today are manufactured to sell things--be them records, clothes, sports tickets, or just an overall image. I think the media is to blame for this.

However, like sixate, I also see a *tremendous* problem in parenting today. Too many let the media and the TV raise their children. Quite possibly the most important thing that any parent can teach their child is curiosity. When a child is naturally curious, he will be less likely to accept at face value the barrage of junk that passes for entertainment. This child will be more likely to pick up a book, to educate himself. I was lucky to have parents who cared, and who fostered my curiosity. Too many parents don't do this.

It is also because of this general media blitz and the inability of most people to think for themselves that the media is able to so tightly control what information we have access to. When so many media outlets are controlled by a single entity, those at the top are able to pick and choose what information people have access to--and when there are so few other, independent avenues of information, what these conglomerates say is taken as fact.

The world is a mightily fucked-up place.

My hero and role model is one of my very best friends who acted as an older brother for me. Unfortunately , he died of cancer october 5th , 2002. Everyday I try to live on and make him proud.

I dont think i could ever have a celebrity or a politician as a hero though.

My heroes are both of my parents. they have given me everything when i needed it and have been there for me, and thats how im gonna treat my kids when i get older. and i think that your parents are the only real best freinds that you will ever have.

My grandfather is way up there...

Currently, I have a lot of respect for Laura Bush.

I never had any heroes growing up.

Closest I could think of would be family, like my mother.

Nothing in society ever caught my attention long enough.

Now a days, Id say that my son is a hero to me, and I guess, historys thinkers. People that have taken their brains and offered this world something to grow on.

People that choose to volunteer all their time to helping others are pretty high on my list too.

And last, but not least, soldiers in war, which kinda goes with the above statement. Soldiers, firefighters, red cross workers, people that fit into that category.

Right now...my parents are my heroes. After them...teachers across America and around the world, except for those bitches in Vietnam. I dunno about other countries, but compare teachers in vietnam and teachers in america is like comparing angels and the devil.

I've had a lot of hero's growing up; I still do. The first people that I respected enough to amount to hero status were my parents, but most of my heros are fiction, or at best fictionalized.

I suppose that some of my first heros were Nancy Drew and the kids from Madelene L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, Meg and Charles Wallace. These days, my hero's are the wordsmiths themselves: William Blake, Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare (to name a few of the W's.) I regard the artist and the creator, the painter, sculptor, the philosopher and poet.

My Heroes:

My father for putting it all on the line to come to America.
My mother for sacrificing a promising career to raise me and my brother.
My uncle for serving in the Army and dying for his country.
General Eric Shinseki USA (ret) - one of the greatest Army Chiefs of Staff, and only Asian-American 4-star general ever.

Bruce Campbell
 

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo...l/toronto6.jpg

Both my mentor and hero!

My daddy--a very real and honest guy who made a life for himself, despite a lack of education. He's patient and caring, and also cool as hell.

My mom is awesome too.

I would have to say the most influential person in my life that I've never met would have to be John Lennon. I'm not sure if I could call him a hero though.

I know a lot of people didn't like him because of what he thought about the U.S. government, or some of the religious comments he made, but I think he made a difference to people both as an activist and a musician. I think that if more famous people did the kind of work he did, the world would be a much brighter place.

My heroes are people whose honesty carried them to uncomfortable conclusions, and then acted on them anyway. Earl Warren, the Republican governor of California who became supreme court chief justice and championed the rights of minorities and the individual, despite the opposition of his own parties; Everett Koop, conservative surgeon general under Reagan who promoted condom usage as the most realistic way to fight AIDS despite opposition from the administration and conservative allies who were pushing absintence as the only strategy. Nobody currently in national politics holds a candle to either of those two.

Oh yeah, and Walter Cronkite. Definitely Uncle Walter. I always trusted him, and he never let me down. You all under the age of 40 or so have no idea what Cronkite meant to America back in the '60s and the '70s.

^^^^ you can't not honor people who tell the truth.^^^^

personal- my father- who taught me to stand for what I believed in- at a great price

fictional-
King Theoden- LOTR
The Waylander- david gemmel
The boondock saints

Historical-
Henry V of England
Musashi
Sun Tsu
Patton

Maybe more later

My parents. If i'm 1/10000 of what they are i'll be happy.

Looking back, My father for carrying our family on a single paycheck, working overtime for xmas presents and extras to make our lives better. As a teen, My mother for pulling herself together and getting out of a 16 year marriage and going back to work full time after being out of regular work for all that time. Now I have no real heroes.

Conan the Barbarian is my hero.

What is best in life? To crush your enemy, see him driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

The astronauts
Micky Mantle
Certain Indy 500 racecar drivers
My Dad
My Grandfather

I was lucky the last two, were the best.

My father-in-law.

I know alot of people don't get along with their inlaws, and they can be occasionally overbearing, but I really admire him, what he's done with his life, and how he handles things.

He came from literally nothing, both of his parents having died when he was growing up, and not only did he take care of the family, but worked his way through school and has been very successful, and I think done a good job with his own family. He's always so positive. I'm not ashamed to admit that there are times when faced with a difficult decision that I ask myself what he would do in the same situation.

I also greatly admire "Poppa" George Bush, who was twice the man but half the politician of his son, the current president.

David Bowie.

Not because he's loaded now, but because he maintained his artistic integrity and usually did not suck up to the audience, except for a few sad occasions. He continued doing what he does best and most importantly, what he wants to do, giving little regard to whether it made him rich or not.

I never identified with politicians or such...

T. E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia is a hero of mine. He had a fascinating life and after becoming a legend tried to live as a simple foot soldier under an alias until found out by the authorities. Then he tried again under another alias in the RAF. The man definately followed his own path.
Another hero is Dave Draper. He was a big body builder in the 60's when Schwarzenegger was getting started. The guy won all the big contests then crawled into a bottle for a few decades. The hero part is that he was able to quit drinking, get his life together and start his own sucessful business. He also has now written a couple of books on fitness and has some really inspirational writings on his web site. When I was dealing with some health issues he really helped me.
Lastly but most definately not least is my grandfather. He survived the Bataan Death March and four years in a Japanese POW camp. He taught me how to be an honorable man and had a wicked sense of humour. I miss him very much.

The short list:

Jesus
The Dali Lama
My mother

My pops.

He gives me more advice that proves sound than i know what to do with. I'd be lost w/o his advice and I feel im a much better person because of him, and what he has shown me.

The Dali Lama
My sons and all service men
Oprah
Myah Angelo

I do want to add that when I have the opportunity I tell people in the armed services, police- and fire- persons that I appreciate their good work. They are real-life heroes to me...

Rod Serling-did the best writing for television ever!
Leonardo Da Vinci-Way ahead of his time
Bruce Campbell- self made man in my chosen career and extermely patient with his fans.
Steve McQueen-rose from orphanage to american icon
Ghandi- the fact that he succeeded with such a novel concept.
Winston Churchil-quoteable as hell
Mark Twain-ditto

My little Brother

Anyone who risks their life to possibly save mine in the future.

Anyone who sticks up for what they believe in, no matter the consequences.

Cliff Burton

http://www2.lut.fi/~mega/pics/cliff.jpg


Anyone who fights a good fight without a thought to themselves. Anyone who helps others before helping themselves.

:) yeah... those people...

Frank Zappa, Aneurin Bevan (google him), Nietzsche ... no wonder i've got problems