If someone gets paid to do dangerous things, is that person a “hero” when he or she does their job?
I would say that climbing aboard a 1,400 pound Brahma bull, and trying to stay aboard for 8 seconds, is about as dangerous an occupation as there is. The chance of a bull rider getting hurt, or seriously hurt, is pretty high, every time he straps in. Broken bones, concussions, internal injuries and worse happen all of the time. So, is a bull rider a hero when he does his job, or, alternatively, is he just a risk taker who happens to get paid for doing some damn fool thing?
I think the term “her0” is overused, clichéd, and cheapened in our society. It’s like the word “superstar” in sports; nowadays, guys who sit on the bench, wishing they were playing, are considered “stars”, while the guys who are actually out on the field making the plays are deemed “superstars”. What is the superlative for a guy like QB Tom Brady of the Patriots? Maybe a “Super Superstar”…with cheese.
Similarly, the words “hero” and “heroic” have been bandied about to the extent that they have lost their cache. Any policeman or fireman who does their job is routinely called a “hero”…even though they are trained and paid to do dangerous things occasionally, like climbing a tree to rescue a cat. Back when I was involved in local government, the statistics on firemen were that 80 to 90 percent of their “emergency” responses were for non-emergency matters. Firefighting, i.e. the most dangerous part of the job, was rare; nine times out of ten the FD crew rolled out of the station to respond to a medical issue.
The same goes with policemen. Yes, some aspects of their jobs are dangerous, but (a) they are well-trained and well-paid to take on those risks; and, (2) most police work is routine and boring, to some extent, and rarely life-threatening. My son has worked in the Sheriff’s Department for many years. He had occasion to fire his gun early on in his career. His superior at the time noted to my son that he (the lieutenant) had never had occasion to fire his weapon on duty in his career to that point. Unlike on TV, most cops aren’t regularly involved in gunfights; most of the folks that they deal with are unarmed.
So, if a fireman rescues someone from a burning building, or a cop apprehends a bad guy waving a sword at passersby, is the action “heroic”, or did they just do their job? Put another way, can Batman actually do something heroic? Not really.
I would offer a different example of heroism: someone who is not trained nor paid to risk life and limb…running into a burning building to save someone, or disarming a robber in a liquor store…now, THAT is heroic, that is something truly courageous which should be applauded by all.
“Thank you for your service!” This is a platitude that is becoming trite, usually bestowed on military servicemen, active or retired. For those servicemen who were drafted, as in the Vietnam War…yes, we should thank them for their service, because they were put in harm’s way by our government (not at their volition), to fight an unpopular war. However, for the past four decades, the U.S. military has been stocked with volunteers, so, again, we have young folks who are well-trained and well-paid to take on dangerous activities. Most of the men and women in the military perform support tasks…they aren’t dodging bullets, much like firemen don’t put out a lot of fires.
Certainly, it is possible for a serviceman to perform an heroic act…like give his life to save others, or recklessly disregard orders to secure an objective against overwhelming odds. They make movies about these incidents, but the reason that they do is because…such incidents are inspiring, but rare.
Maybe “Thank you for your service!” is another way of saying, “Thank you for serving (so that my son or grandson didn’t have to)”. The truth of the matter is that more and more of the military is being staffed by poor minorities…for them, serving isn’t a desire to do something dangerous, it’s a path to a career that they might never have the opportunity to pursue.
I come from a time (Vietnam War era) where society wasn’t kind to servicemen…as if it was the grunt soldiers’ policymaking that got us mired down in that stupid war. No one was thanking anyone for their service; I know, as I took great pains to camouflage myself in civvies whenever I ventured off base in the U.S. Not a good time.
What a difference a few decades make. To some extent, I think society is trying to make amends for its behavior…going out of the way to thank the young folk who are doing the dirty work on behalf of the government…which, BTW, continues to involve us in stupid conflicts. Some things never change.
The cynic in me is offended by the emergency services establishment which is still raking in credit for the “heroic” 9/11 response. Fire trucks nationwide now have American flags festooning their rigs…a lame effort to piggyback on the “heroism” of the NY police and firemen who died responding to 9/11. Call me an idiot, but those poor souls were just doing their jobs on that fateful day, and rushed into those Twin Towers…not knowing that they were going to collapse. Had the Fire and Police department brass known what was about to occur, they would not have allowed those responders in the building…per policy. It was simply bad luck for the responders…as dedicated as they were. They weren’t heroes; they were victims.
Anyway, on that day, being a fireman or policeman in that locale was a very hazardous occupation. Yet, overall, those jobs are not even close to being the most dangerous. The government keeps statistics on this through OSHA, and it might surprise you what the most dangerous ones are. The countdown, from 15 to number 1 is as follows:
15. Electrical Power Line Installers
14. Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers
13. Construction Laborers
12. First-line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers and Repairers
11. Grounds Maintenance Workers
10. Miscellaneous Agricultural Workers
9. First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers
8. Farmers, Ranchers and Agricultural Managers
7. Truck Drivers
6. Structural Iron and Steel Workers
5. Refuse and Recyclable Materials Collectors
4. Roofers
3. Aircraft Pilots and Flight Engineers
2. Fishermen
And, the number one most hazardous occupation of all.
Logging Workers
Who’d have thought?
So, if a policeman dies in the line of duty (even if he crashes his patrol car), he gets a ticker tape parade down Main Street. If a tree falls on a logger, nothing happens except that he dies…it’s just not that heroic.
Wood just doesn’t get any respect, I tell ya’.