It's important to have a hero, somebody whose ideals and commitment to their ideals leave you with a lasting sense of admiration, respect and inspiration. You don't always have to have the same hero over time, it is reasonable to change heroes as your views changes.

Who is (are/were) your heroes?

When I was Very Young:

My mum was probably my hero. In some ways she still is.

Now I am Six:

I'm very enamoured with St. Francis of Assisi. Now that I am six, I have discovered my love of dogs. It won't ever go away, and every moment for the next 24+ years of my life where there is no dog in my life will hurt.

St. Francis is my kind of saint. He's the type of saint that loves dogs too.

Soon I will be Old:

Henry Cavendish is my hero. Apparently the man was so shy that there is only one portrait of him, obtained by stealth because his fellows from the Royal Society knew that he would be to shy to sit for a portrait.

When I saved up the disposable income a reproduction of Cavendish's portrait will be my second tattoo. I've already got Boltzmann's entropy equation because it is beautiful. Now I am keen to record Cavendish's image for posterity. Cavendish is not beautiful, but he is still my hero.

Pardon my ignorance, Toni, but I have never heard of your "hero". I could have looked him up of course, but I have no problem in admitting to not knowing someone or something.

I know many people have what they call heroes, and it is not my place to criticise something just because I don't understand it. But, I have to say that I have always believed that having a "hero" of your own is pretty weak; wet, in fact. There is nothing about people that is heroic. Certainly, there are a few people who have been recorded as heroes, and received awards for heroism; that's convention and fair enough. But we all know, including the "heroes" themselves, that they just happened to be in the right (or wrong) place in an instance that saw them acting without thought.

Yep. Having been given the chance by you to reflect on my opinion, I am even further convinced that it is dangerous to idolize a mere human.

My candidate is Diogenes, the Greek.

He never considered himself to be a hero, or in fact of any importance.

Toni Lavis,

As a tip, you are referring to role models.

The feckless media abuse words like 'hero'.

I surprised a boy's mother could be his 'hero'.

I'm sick of the way hero has been watered down to mean anyone someone admires. Even worse, all AIDs sufferers are now heroes, everyone killed in the Twin Towers was a hero; and recently a man has an argument with his girlfriend and they both leap off a Cruise liner, he's a hero.

Unless someone does something pretty damn amazing and in the process puts their own life in jeopardy, they don't qualify as a hero in my book.

And, I don't think anyone should worship or idolise anyone else.

Dear Toni,

I had many role models growing up.
I loved stories found in books. Stories that
seeped into my very being. Stories that lifted
the fog for me, caused the Great Aha, and
literally changed my life. I learned from biographies
that even great individuals start out as everyday
children - letting me know that life's possibilities are
without limit. People like Sidney Poitier, Christy Brown,
come to mind.

Then there were the role models in fairy tales and legends
and historical stories. Cinderella enchanted not because
she got the prince but because she was cheerful and
dignified even in unbearable circumstances. King Arthur
showed what a noble deed looked like - and that there
is a thing as duty and sacrifice.

My favourite Australian has to be Sir "Weary" Dunlop.
I had the privilege of meeting the man and getting to know
him. He also did an outstanding job in unbearable
circumstances during the war years.

There are many more people that I could list - including
of course my parents. However this will have to do for now.

// I could have looked him up of course, but I have no problem in admitting to not knowing someone or something. //

They do say ignorance is bliss. I don't mind confessing to ignorance but not knowing stuff bothers me, so I always make an effort to redress my ignorance as soon as possible after confession. What is the value of confession if you don't seek repentance? But maybe you're happier not learning new things.

The day I lose my joy of learning new things is the day I sever my femoral artery.

//There is nothing about people that is heroic//

That is your opinion. The Oxford Dictionary has this as one of the definitions of 'hero'.

hero: A person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Which suggests that only people are capable of being heroic. Which is at direct odds with your suggestion that people are incapable of heroism. I think I'm going to side with the Oxford lexicographers on this one.

//My candidate is Diogenes, the Greek.//

Diogenes of Sinope? An admirable fellow. I really like Diogenes, but not as much as I admire some other philosophers.

//As a tip, you are referring to role models.

The feckless media abuse words like 'hero'.//

No, I am referring to heroes. I am not the media, I have all my feckles fully intact, and I wouldn't have chosen the word 'hero' if it wasn't what I meant.

//Unless someone does something pretty damn amazing and in the process puts their own life in jeopardy//

hero: A person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Nope, nothing in their about risking life and limb. Call me strange but I think I'll take the opinions of the Oxford lexicographers over one dumb hippie's.

//I don't think anyone should worship or idolise anyone else.//

You should try and persuade runner of that.

Conservative H,

I'm pleased to see we agree on this.

Father Chris Riley began his work for youth in Sydney.
He founded and developed Youth Off the Streets (YOTS).
A member of the Salesians of Don Bosch,
an Italian founded religious order devoted to the care
of youth. Chris Riley worked for many years as a school
teacher and then as principal of Boy's Town at Engadine
in southern Sydney with difficult youngsters sent there
by the courts. In 1991 he left Engadine for Kings Cross
to begin working full time on the streets with
chronically homeless young people.

YOTS grew out of this and has adopted innovative approaches
to the abused and traumatised girls and boys with whom
it deals through street-based programs and drug and alcohol
rehabilitation in rural settings. After the tsunami in Aceh,
despite enormous difficulties involved in working in a
conservative Muslim region, Father Riley managed to set up
the first shelter for children orphaned by the disaster.

While he is still the inspiration and CEO of YOTS, the
organisation is non-sectarian and open to all-comers.

To me Father Chris Riley is a hero!
He represents humanity (and Catholicism) at its best.

From the online Cambridge dictionary: Hero - a person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great.

Putting one's life at risk to help another is a form of bravery, is it not Tony?

I have never had a hero.

I have modelled my driving & sailing on people I admired very much, but would never consider them heroes.

I know many who served Oz in war became heroes, but I have not known them.

When it comes to social workers, altruism is something I have been unable to find. Most I have found are more interested in joining a mutual admiration society, & become quite snaky if not admired by all. Often it is their need to be needed the lower echelon of social workers are fulfilling, by projecting their need onto others, not some higher calling.

The huge amount of money some accept for their efforts make it hard to believe many are doing anything but earning a living, & maximising their own incomes while doing it.

Am I becoming a cynic? If so I blame it on OLO.

Another thing that gives me the pip is people (by no stretch of the imagination heroes) who are given gongs on Australia Day and similar occasions. Most of them have never been heard of, and most of them have been very well paid for whatever it is they supposed to have done.

It's jolly good that knighthoods were dropped here (save for Abbotts seemingly deliberate attempt to get up our noses with Cosgrove and the RAAF bloke). I hope Abbott took notice of uproar he caused; if hasn't, then we can look forward to people being knighted for winning peeing competitions as they are in the U.K. There is no place for heroes and knights in a modern democracy.

Dear ttbn,

In his book "Give Them Wings,"
Maurice Saxby explains:

"Before writing there was story. In the beginning was
language and from language proceeded story - far back in the
reaches of time. As early man, in whatever habitat, developed
the art of speech, he began to explore his environment, and
to penetrate beyond the immediately observable in an attempt
to give meaning to life. Through dance, art and story great
events were celebrated and heroes remembered."

But even as man began to recognise his humanity through
the supremacy of a developed language, the suspicion of human
fallibility grew into the certainty that there were
invisible forces shaping his destiny: forces from without
and within.

Saxby tell us - "Outside were great forces - gods and
unseen spirit hosts, some benevolent, some malevolent,
controlling the environment and impinging on the lives
of all creatures, for good or ill. So there had to
be appeasement, and for the great forces, reverence, even
worship."

"Within were opposing drives and desires needing definition:
a groping towards the concepts of goodness and evil."

From the very beginning was the need to know.

Saxby explains, "Not that man was necessarily a puppet.
There were always to be those who annexed power - heroes -
- those who outshone their fellows and did
battle with invisible and often unknown monsters.
Because life is harsh, apparently unyielding and fearful there
had to be monsters, giants, dragons, creatures of the
forest and the night who personify fear.

As tribes banded together and kinship merged into nationhood,
bigger gods and mightier heroes came into being.
So developed the tales of and for the people, the folk.

As with folk tales every culture has its store of legend.
Exploits are passed down, gaining heroic detail with each new
generation.

Today these ancient ones have taken on new forms.
Youth lives with the fear of nuclear catastrophe and so
still searches for certainty. The Aristotelian principle
that the friend of wisdom must also be a friend of myth is
as true today as it was then.

cont'd ...

Saxby tells us that, "Mankind has always had his gods
and heroes. Each generation must learn anew the lesson
of acceptance that cost Oedipus the very gift of sight."

"But man's questioning never ceases.
The supreme quest of every age is to look beyond the edge
of present vision."

We all need answers to the unknown that satisfy an inner
need. We need heroes as models of human behaviour that
help give meaning and value to life.

As science provides answers, new questions and new dilemmas
arise. Many still refute science, or remain unconvinced;
and there are those who see these myths and legends as
images of man's ongoing spiritual search for a way to
Truth and Life.

I've just come up with another name -
Fred Hollows. A specialist in treating
the eye disease trachoma. He stomped
through the Outback helping our Indigenous
People keep their sight. Between 1974 and 1976
his teams screened 100,000. He did the same in
Africa. He was probably the first doctor to give
life to the "aid abroad," crusades that have been
a calling for medicos with a conscience.

Hollows died in 1993 of cancer. The sight he gave
others lives on.