Fallen hero hard to take

27 February 2013

EVERYBODY wants a hero. Not too many volunteer to be one.

Let's face it: a true hero is fictional. They come alive on 3D screens and dominate the focus of media coverage.

But deep down, we all know the deal. Someone is about to fall.

It's a familiar story: someone becomes an overnight success, whether in business, sport, entertainment, etc. and he or she has more than 10 minutes of fame where the world worships at his or her feet.

Until the moment that the stilts of man-made pedestals come tumbling down. Until the man or woman who has been glorified for super-human feats is now shamed for the very humanity that lives in the hearts of his or her accusers.

It's become like a bad movie where one can tell the beginning from the end. Yet we keep watching because we hope that this time there will be a different ending. We all fall into the trap.

We want to believe. We want to hope that there is infallible goodness in man, that if he/she can take on superhero status, then maybe I too can achieve the impossible.

One day when I finally get off the couch, watching other people live the lives I wish I did, secretly coveting the seeming inhuman courage and strength exhibited by someone as normal as ourselves.

We relish in their triumphs, we cheer them on in their winning – but turn our heads in shame when they lose, when they disappoint us, when they hurt themselves, when they fail at the impossible task of being superhuman.

You would think we would all learn the lesson. You would think we would begin to say: "Hey, people – there's something wrong with this picture. This stuff doesn't work."

But we choose to suspend our disbelief and believe in the lie once again.

Because it's easier to make someone else accountable for what is really our responsibility. It's easier to say it's the government, and blame the past and anything and everyone else than it is to say: "It is up to me. What can I do to stop the madness?"

Individuals are not meant to take on the weight of human expectation. We can't all abscond from our duties to the collective soul of humanity and expect people to stand on their own, enduring pressure from all sides to be "perfect".

We are meant to be led by others and to lead others. We are meant to be middlemen between reality and possibility, between mediocrity and excellence, between despair and hope. We have messed up the scales of equality. We are not less equal or more equal to others.

We are all on the same plane in the eyes of God, human, part of a family that needs all parts to be pulling in the same direction, headed towards the same goal.

We can all be heroes if we make no one a hero. And when one falls, we all stretch out our hands to lift him/her up.

Cheryl Ramurath, Port Elizabeth

Reader's Comments

Report Abuse Author: vim Date: 03 March 2013 16:37

In a State of complete cooperation you're perfectly at home in one piece without a doubt, Cheryl. For now though this is... The Real World... that's the one in which The Human Race exercises its wilful right to self determination and feeds its daemons fat on competition. I know everything better than you. I do everything better than you. When you hit the ground - the harder the better - you've got to admit it's worth a laugh and goes to show how right I am to deserve everything better than you. I am a winner and you are a loser. I have lessons to teach and you have lessons to learn, and ultimately, whether you get through this on your own or drop dead, actually, I owe you nothing. So let's call this Human Race comprising 7 billion arrogant sorts up to a starting line. A man is beaten to the ground. He gets up and falls again. The Human Race grins, gasps and groans "What can I do?" but not a single toe crosses that line and eventually the man's head is broken. "What can I do?" Is that even a question? It is always spoken by the best of talkers and it is only ever said as a reason to do nothing. Those who find the oxymoronic terms of engagement with The Human Race fundamentally repulsive don't question the choice they make to be Human or to Race.

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