Heroes

[Thomas_Merton]

“We can be Heroes

Just for one day” David Bowie

Hearing Bowie’s song earlier this morning on the radio made me wonder what changes there are in our attitudes since the ‘70s.

Do we have heroes now? Is there someone we try to emulate, we look up to as our “role model”?

I make no secret that my hero is Thomas Merton (who died, by the way in Bangkok), but who is your hero? Who does your b/gf look up to?

Are there any heroes left, or do we all just want to be dumb, daft and David Beckham?

[wimpy]

Todd Beamer. "Let's roll". United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001.

[meom]

As a teenager my heroes were Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders and Anton Geesink (Dutch?) who beat the Japanese in Judo during the olympics. In my dope years Keith Richards became sort of a role model.

Nowadays I don't really care and I suppose the only one who comes close to being a hero would be my mom since she never turned her back on me despite all sorts of misery and troubles I caused.

[RDN]

Todd Beamer.  "Let's roll".  United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excellent choice

[HarryHacker]

&lt;deleted&gt;...No More Heroes. The Stranglers, sums it up for me!

[HarryHacker]

No More Heroes

Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky?

He got an ice pick

That made his ears burn

Whatever happened to dear old Lenny?

The great Elmyra and Sancho Panza?

Whatever happened to the heroes? (x2)

Whatever happened to all the heroes?

All the Shakespearoes?

They watched their Rome burn

Whatever happened to the heroes? (x2)

No more heroes anymore (x2)

Whatever happened to all the heroes?

All the Shakespearoes?

They watched their Rome burn

Whatever happened to the heroes?(x2)

No more heroes anymore (x2)

[Kerryd]

In this era, one of my heros would have to be LCol Nordick (you likely won't have heard of him), my old battalion CO.

In the spring of '93, while on a peacekeeping mission in Croatia, fighting flared up in 3 of the 4 sectors the UN was in charge of.

In our sector, a Serbian brigade from the north started moving south to battle a Croatian brigade. LCol Nordick informed the CO's of those brigades that he was going to put his battalion (us) in the middle, and if they wanted to fight, they'd have to go through us first. (A battalion is usually one-thrid of a brigade, so each side outnumbered us 3 to 1).

Both sides backed down and returned to their barracks. They realized that even if they did manage to take us out, they'd be in no condition to face the other (enemy) brigade. As a result, ours was the only quiet sector during that period.

[ProfessorFart]

Michael Watson. UK boxer nearly crippled by head injuries sustained in the ring who hauled his arse out of his wheelchair and walked the London Marathon.

Thai Hero = Sulak Sivaraksa a guy who despite going to jail and being deported countless times, still continues to question Thai society and social values. Although I don't agree with some things he says and does it still takes &lt;deleted&gt; to make the kind of stand he has in the face of some of Thailand's nastiest despots.

[FreedomDude]

[FreedomDude]

<deleted>

Edited March 30, 2005 by FreedomDude

[bina]

Sulak Sivaraksa

can u expand a bit???

[Gumballl]

Politics aside, I think that US ex-prez Jimmy Carter is a fine person for all he has done in his life. He's probably no hero by today's definition, but I think he has done a lot to make this a better world.

Edited March 30, 2005 by Gumballl

[Pie Boy]

(1) My father

(2) Diego Armando Maradona

[Thomas_Merton]

Sulak Sivaraksa

can u expand a bit???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sulak Sivaraksa, born 1933, is a prominent and outspoken Thai intellectual and social critic. He is a teacher, a scholar, a publisher, an activist, the founder of many organisations, and the author of more than a hundred books and monographs in both Thai and English.

Sulak's life and times

Educated in England and Wales, Sulak returned to Siam in 1961 at the age of 28 and founded Sangkhomsaat Paritat (Social Science Review). This became Siam's foremost intellectual magazine, dealing with numerous political and social issues during the time of the military dictatorship. Sulak's work editing Sangkhomsaat Paritat led him to become interested in grassroots issues. He learned that to truly serve society, one must stay in touch with the poor people. Beginning in the late 1960s he became involved in a number of service-oriented, rural development projects, in association with Buddhist monks and the student activist community.

During the 1970s Sulak became the central figure in a number of non-governmental organisations in Siam. These include the Komol Keemthong Foundation (named for a young teacher killed in 1971), the Pridi Banomyong Institute (named for the father of Thai democracy), the Slum Childcare Foundation, the Co-ordinating Group for Religion and Society, the Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development and Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute. Through his involvement with these organisations, Sulak began to develop indigenous, sustainable, and spiritual models for change. Since then he has expanded his work to the regional and international levels. He has co-founded the Asian Cultural Forum on Development and the International Network of Engaged Buddhists.

In 1976 Siam experienced its bloodiest coup. Hundreds of students were killed and thousands were jailed. The military burnt the whole stock of Sulak's bookshop and issued an order for his arrest. Although Sulak was forced to remain in exile for two years, he was able to continue his activist work in the West. He lectured at the University of California Berkeley, Cornell University, the University of Toronto, and throughout Europe.

In 1984 he was arrested in Bangkok on charges of criticising the King, but international protest led to his eventual release. In 1991 another warrant was issued for his arrest and Sulak was forced into political exile once more. He came back to fight the case in the court in 1992 and won in 1995. At the end of that year he was granted the Right Livelihood Award, also known as Alternative Nobel Prize.

He sees Buddhism as a questioning process. Question everything, including oneself, look deeply, and then act from that insight. He is among a handful of leaders world-wide working to revive the socially engaged aspects of spirituality.

Whatever he does, however he does it, at the core of his work is a mission to build a new leadership for change at all levels, within Siam as well as outside it.

For more information, please see: http://www.sulak-sivaraksa.org/about1.php

[Pepe']

William Wallace/Scotland Gave violence a new meaning while evicting the English from his home.

Mahatma Gandhi/India Would not succum to violence while evicting the English from his home....

[Tarragona]

When I was a kid Kenny Dalglish (footballer, Liverpool) was my hero. To this day, he remains a man (not a football player/manager) I have great respect for.

After the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989 he attended most (if not all) of the funerals and the pressure and stress that he put himself under was a direct cause of his resignation some time later.

At the time the S*n tabloid had a front page story headlined "The Truth" which was filled with lies about the behaviour of the Liverpool fans on that day. This led to a boycott of the paper on Merseyside and the then-editor phoned Kenny to ask what he could do about this. Kenny told him to put a headline as big as the first on the front page saying "We Lied" and admit what they had done. McKenzie declined and to this day the S*n is looking for ways to undo the damage.

I really don't have any heroes any more but some others I respect

Also as a kid, I was impressed by the Nelson Mandela story at a time when he ws still imprisoned. He's subsequently always appeared to me to be an extremely genuine man with a lot of dignity.

From Thailand, I've become a bit of a collector on books about Pridi Panomyong (one of Sulak Sivarak's heroes?) who seems to have been a remarkable man. Modern Thailand could have turned out quite differently if he hadn't been forced out.

[Explorer]

Todd Beamer.  "Let's roll".  United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001.

Excellent choice

I agree

Explorer

[Tufty]

For me it has to be Bob Geldof for his selfless act of setting aside his career in order to bring to the attention of the Western world the horrible plight of over 30 million Africans who were suffering from the effects of a drought and famine of Biblical proportions

The band Aid concert was broadcast throughout the world to an audience of more than a billion and a half people spread across 100 countries.

Since then, the Band Aid Trust has raised more than $144 million

Edited March 31, 2005 by Tufty

[Pudgimelon]

William Walker, 1824-1860

Invaded Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicarauga and briefly declared himself "Emperor of Nicarauga" after leading an "army" of 58 Americans armed with rifles to overthrow their government. Of course, he was just as quickly expelled and forced back to the States, but he lasted until he was 36 years old, when the British executed him by firing squad after a second attempt to retake Nicaruaga.

Not a hero in any sense of the word (at least not in a good way), he certainly represents all that is bad about American Imperialism and arrogant disregard for national soveriegnty in Central America. He also perfectly personifies the American expanionist philosophy of "Manifest Destiny" (and that's not a compliment).

Yet he's my hero for displaying all the arrogant, stupid, aggressive and domineering traits that made America the great nation it is today. Folks like Walker and Custer didn't give a ###### about the people at the other end of their rifles, they just pursued their ideals with a zeal that would make any religious fanatic envious (and met with a sticky end too).

It's both an inspiration and a dire warning. Greatness can be achieved via less-than-great means, or can it?

[Mr Red]

Todd Beamer.  "Let's roll".  United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excellent choice

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree

Explorer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

While I do agree with this choice, I think these people are "flashes" that are projected into that situation in a moment. While I can only wish that I might have that opportunity and choose to do something memorable, I do think the long-term heroes are the better choices. These are folks that don't have to have a pop-up situation to become heroes -- these are the ones that build up slowly and cause folks to look back and say "yeah-- I guess they would be my hero".

I would consider myself successful if I could only have a life that caused someone to say that about me.

I have a couple heroes by that definition, and those are the ones I will remember as I pass from this mortal coil.

[Neeranam]

William Wallace/Scotland Gave violence a new meaning while evicting the English from his home.

Mahatma Gandhi/India Would not succum to violence while evicting the English from his home.... 

Exactly what I was going to post!

King Kenny Daglish, as we called him.

[tutsiwarrior]

Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Carlos Fonseca and all others that stood against the US bully...

[kreon]

george w. bush, because he's such a pr1ck

[bkkmadness]

Though I don't have many personal heroes I think Christopher Reeve deserves a mention in the thread.

[Stocky]

Bugs Bunny

[PeaceBlondie]

Jesus, Gandhi, King, Dorothy Day, A. J. Muste, the guy at Tienammen Square who symbolized non-violence in contrast to a military tank, my friends who have been arrested for non-violent direct action against oppression (Palestine, Colombia); the female Maya in Guatemala, Rigoberta Menchu; my friends who occupied a Mexican Army base along with Mayan indigenas; the martyrs of Acteal. And of course, Jimmy Carter, the Dali Lama, and Aung Sun Kyi in Myanmar. Five of these heroes received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Edited March 31, 2005 by PeaceBlondie

[Pepe']

Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Carlos Fonseca and all others that stood against the US bully...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Then there's George Washington of course.

Wanna make something out of it!!! LOL

[qualtrough]

Rachel Corrie

[The_Moog]

2 legs - Geoffrey Boycott

4 legs - Sea Pigeon

[cdnvic]

Jesus Christ, Ghandi, and Martin Luthar King jr, because they not only talked peace, but they showed it was possible to make a big difference in the world without firing a shot.

My grandfather, who faced the nazis and came home wounded, haunted by nightmares, but never complained, my uncles who never came back, and those in Afganistan, Haiti, and elsewhere putting themselves on the line for us again.

cv