Topic #2: Week of 2/8-2/14

Thanks to everyone who posted; all of you get full credit. Now this week you have a dual assignment: you are to post a blog on the new topic, and you are to leave 2 comments on blogs from last week. If you have already commented twice, you do not need to do it again. Clicking the "Interesting/cool/funny" boxes, while nice, does not count as a comment.
Sidenote: there's a little icon at the top of this posting box that has a checkmark with "ABC" written above it. That is a spellchecker. Use it.


New Topic:

We've been reading legends for over a week now, and talking as we go about the differences between what was chivalrous, what was admirable and heroic, back in King Arthur's time (or, more properly, in Sir Thomas Malory's time, when Le Morte d'Arthur was written), or in the African nations that told the tales of Sundiata, and now, here, 2009 in the United States. So I couldn't help wondering: what do we, today, consider heroic?

The most heroic figures I know of are pretty standard: Mohandas Gandhi, known as the Mahatma, Nelson Mandela, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I admire them all because I do not think there is better evidence of strength of will and faith in your convictions than leading a non-violent movement for sweeping political change. Anybody that is willing to face police dogs and firehoses, or rifle bullets and bayonets, or more than twenty years in prison as a political dissident, with nothing but courage and open, empty hands -- that is heroic to me. As to which of the three was the most heroic, it is hard to decide -- which is why I'm weaseling and picking more than one person -- because all of them faced a nearly insurmountable task. They all tried to force those in power to give it up, for no other reason than that it is right to do so. They faced greed, ambition, hatred, and pride, and on their side? Only determination. These men should be heroes to us all.

The real test here, though, is whether or not these heroes have inspired heroic deeds in us. One of the purposes of a legend is to transmit moral values to the listeners, particularly to children: so have these legends, of these heroes, done so? Have I been heroic? The answer is probably no, in this specific case, simply because I'm too introverted and a leeetle bit too misanthropic to lead a movement to change the world. But I have been heroic in the past by our society's standards. In 1998, when my then-girlfriend Toni and I were living on the top floor of a converted house in Santa Cruz, Toni woke me up one night with the words, "I smell smoke." We both jumped out of bed and Toni, who has a keen sense of smell, followed the smell to its source: our downstairs neighbor's car was on fire. With much cursing, Toni ran outside to move her car, which was parked right next to the burning minivan. I went to the kitchen and called 911, and then grabbed the fire extinguisher and took it outside, where I put out the fire. It turned out later that our neighbor, who wasn't home at the time, was, shall we say, gang affiliated, and had been the target of a little payback shaped like a gascan and a match. Our other neighbors had slept through the whole thing, waking up only when the firemen arrived. But thanks to my wife's nose, and my firefighting skills, the house was saved.


So there's your question. It's a two-parter, and requires a minimum two paragraphs answer (though paragraphs are pretty flexible on blogs). First, name one person (or more) who you consider heroic, and explain why. It doesn't have to be a famous person, but it does have to be a real person -- you cannot choose Batman. Second, describe one act you have performed that might be considered heroic. Please remember that there are many aspects of heroism, and that it doesn't have to be incredible or impressive -- the fire wasn't really all that big.

Blogs are due by midnight Saturday, February 14.