I am CELIA YEARY~~and I write romance stories about heroes.
Let's face it, heroes these days have a difficult time staying on their pedestals.
Some heroes seem destined to become one, but we, the public, are often to blame for awarding the title to the wrong people or those who don't really qualify.
A hero is an everyday person who can change the world for the better. It could be simple act such as helping one person out or by helping millions.
There are big heroes known for a particular event, and there are small everyday types of heroes.
I'm particularly searching for a true modern hero. We expect our politicians, leaders of any kind, military personnel, and some dissenters to be hero material. Goodness knows, we can't expect that across the board.
What makes a hero?
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However, I think we overuse the term so that the word truly has little meaning.
Nelson Mandela is a true hero in every sense of the word.
But suppose I say my mother was a hero because she dutifully followed my daddy all over West and North Texas while he followed the work in the oil fields? She kept us fed, clothed, and happy. She went without a home of her own so we'd all be together for 8 years.
Even though I loved and appreciated my mother, truthfully she does not come close to being a hero in the same category as Nelson Mandela. In fact, few people are.
But to me? She was a heroine, and my daddy was a hero.
Men, women, and even children are recognized all over our country
on a daily basis as being a "hero."
~*~A sick child with a positive attitude.
~*~A man who catches a baby falling from a third story window.
~*~All the firefighters who battle the mountain forest fires.
~*~The SWAT team who rescued hostages.
~*~A little girl who saves a kitten from a drain pipe.
History has given us time to ferret out true heroes of battles, wars, and liberations. Some have been proven to have clay feet after all.
Perhaps labeling a person a Hero lays a burden on his/her shoulders. How can a person live up to being a hero on a daily basis?In romance novels, the hero is the important character. The heroine has a great role, too, but it's the male hero on which we focus.
Lucky for us, we have a definite list of What Makes a Western Hero.
Courteous, respectful attitude toward women.
A loner. No close friends, no personal conversations.
Rugged face; seldom smiles
Excellent shot
Brave
One companion, usually his horse
Hates rude people and will put them in their place
Great fighter - uses fists
Accepts all races
Traits of a typical Hemingway Hero are:
The Hemingway Hero always exhibits some form of a physical wound that serves as his tragic flaw and the weakness of his character.
Where have all the good ones gone?
Maybe I should lower my expectations of a true hero.
In fact, the heroes I create in romance novels most often are flawed. I've even created one who abused the woman a little, but I redeemed him, and made him ashamed of what he did. Not one reader ever mentioned that perhaps he was not a good hero.
I think we all know heroes are made, not born, and it's not an easy task to expect one to be 100% true to the calling of a hero.
I agree the word "hero" is overused, but I see a lot of heroes. One problem is that good news doesn't get reported very often. We only hear about negative things and people in the news.
ReplyDeleteVery true, Caroline--I never miss reading articles in the paper that tell of heroic acts by ordinary citizens. Sometimes they are startling, such as a little child saving her mother...or something....in some extraordinary way. But negativism sells newspapers and get attention!
DeleteHeroes need flaws as they, above all, are human beings. I love outlaws who get redeemed. And I adore Sam Elliott. Great pic!
ReplyDeleteI agree-- the best heroes are those rogue who turn good. I think all my heroes are flawed--some much more than others! Thanks for the comment.
DeleteI believe a hero is one who will sacrifice himself for the sake of others. Calling 911 for a passed out adult does not make a kid a hero. We're all glad to know the emergency training that child got worked though.
ReplyDeleteHemingway's ideas of what constitutes a hero may be typical for the time in which he lived, but not for me. (Okay, I'm not a fan of Hemingway as it is.) A guy who can drink another guy under the table does not constitute a hero either. And personally, I don't think Hemingway's characters had much in the way of a strict moral code--at least not the kind I value anyway.
A real hero is someone who will risk his life to save another--like those people who rush to save a child in a burning automobile that could explode at any moment, or someone who crawls out onto the ice to pull someone who fell through that thin ice or a guy who swims against a raging river to save an elderly woman trapped in her car. It has to be something that could cost the hero his own safety, even his life.
Let's hope we all have a good moral code, not just heroes or heroines. Many people are brave. What about all those brave people who are fighting a deadly disease and never complain, in fact giving inspiration to others while they fight that battle? We're all fighting some kind of battle others don't even know about. Does that make us all heroes? I think not.
No. Do NOT lower your standard of what a hero is, Celia. You keep that standard right up there in your mind. A hero has to reach high and go beyond the usual standards. That's what makes them a dang hero to begin with.
So when we write a hero into our stories, we need to write about someone who goes beyond all expectations. Now that's the kind of hero I'm talking about.
Now before I wear out my welcome with all these words and my opinion, let me just say thank you for a great topic. It's one worth talking about. I'm going to get quiet and go. LOL
You always have the most interesting comments!
DeleteI accidentally found the Hemingway information when Googling the topic. I never knew this--but like you, I never liked him or anything he said or did or his lifestyle. He once said, "There's no such thing as writer's block--just lazy writers." Hmmm, how in the world would he know.
Also, I agree that sometimes we sometimes are too quick to call an act heroic. One reason I like to read about the "heroic" acts is to determine if I agree or not.
Once again, thanks for giving me your opinion!
The male lead in a romance book = hero. Interchangeable words today. The waters are becoming muddied when anti-heroes are portrayed on TV, etc. as heroes and people fall in love with them? Yeah, something is wrong. Doing something outrageously stupid that happens to have a good outcome does not make one a hero. Doing your job does not make one a hero. I think most of the world has forgotten what makes real heroes.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, a friend was with her young son in a big store when a tornado ripped through it. The son wound up with a broken ankle and some other injuries. She managed to get him out of the building along with another older woman. (Heroic? Maybe or maybe just a true mom.) But what happened after that was amazing. The local military base went to help out and a soldier was sent to triage the wounded. When he got to the son who was about 8 at the time, the boy said, I'm okay, there's lots of people hurt worse then I am. Take care of them first. I got my mom. (Great kid who realized the mess around him) The man didn't leave the boy. Told him I'm here and I have to do this. He winked at the mom, got the paperwork, and and did what he had to do before moving on to the next person. But it was later that night when he stopped over at the hospital that really showed his true colors. He was still in the same uniform, and had at that point, worked for over 12 hours searching for wounded in the collapsed building. He came to find the little boy and his mom. When he did, he took some sort of pin off his uniform and pinned to the little boy's hospital gown and told the boy he was the bravest person he'd met all day. That soldier didn't have to come back to see that little boy. He was doing his job that day tending to the wounded. But the true colors of a real hero came back to check on that brave little boy, shared a pin, said a prayer, and left. The mother tried to find that man later to thank him but never could.
Well. What a story. The boy was something, wasn't he? And the soldier. Thanks, E, for this great story.
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