Post: #1

The word hero is from the ancient Greek ἥρως. He is what is considered good and noble in the originating culture. The hero is an example of many things. One such thing is altruism, the willingness to sacrifice himself for someone or something greater than himself. He is the achiever of great deeds.

The word excellence or virtue is from the ancient Greek ἀρετή, We more commonly see the word as Arete. Arete is the term Homer often uses in describing heroes. The hero is of the most effective in the use of his faculties of mind, of body, and of soul. Mind, body and soul are each developed in Greek Hero.

Arete was personified as a goddess. One surviving story of the goddess Arete concerns the early life of the hero Hercales (Hercules). At a crossroads, Arete appeared to Heracles as a young maiden, and offered him glory and a life of struggle against evil; her counterpart the goddess Kakia (κακία, "badness"), offered him wealth and pleasure. Heracles chose to follow the path of Arete.

Henceforth, I open a thread devoted to heroes as well as examples of heroism (past or present) in order so that they may inspire (the) men (reading) to be the most effective in the use of his faculties of Mind, Body, and Soul.

Talking conceptually about what is good and noble should also be examined as well as its relationship to concepts such as self-preservation and villainy.

I am of the opinion that one of the primary reasons that Marvel comic movies are so popular now is because they are striking the nerve of a very basic archetype and need within the nature of a man that has very little outlet in the modern world. Heroes and heroic deeds are few and far between.

I posit that if men do not hold to the ideal of heroism (or perhaps villainy) and pursue excellence as they create on the screen of life, what has been created will be severely diminished and perhaps will perish and something more hideous will temporarily take its place until men rediscover this impulse.

Post: #2

Your thread about heroes makes me think about a book that I just finished reading, it's called "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge.
It's not specifically about heroes but it's about the masculine heart, what men are deep down and what they long for, and one of these things is being a hero.
I've learned a lot with this book and I think it will help a lot of men confused about their role today.
Here's some nice quotes:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/59...man-s-soul

Post: #3

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Post: #4

Heroes are absolutely essential to a healthy society. It shows children a physical manifestation of abstract virtues. It is difficult to explain to a child what courage, perseverance, honesty, and sacrifice are. It is easier to read them the Odyssey, show them a statue of Hercules, or take them to see a WWII film. Not only that, but the more tangible something is, the better we remember them. Our problem right now, is not that we don't have anymore heroes; it's that we have the wrong heroes. Our children worship whores and thugs, Kardashians and Little Wayne. Also, the degeneration of our society has led to a victim worshipping and giving into anyone's offense or complaints, no matter how trivial. It is literally an inversion of the virtues of a healthy civilization. Without strong heroes to guide us, we fall.

Post: #5

One of my favorite examples of heroism since I was a boy was the dog of Odysseus, named Argos. My dad actually named our chocolate Labrador, Argos.

In summary, in Homer´s Odyssey, the hero (and king) Odysseus is off fighting in Troy with many other Greek heroes (e.g. Achilles) and kings for 10 or so years. After the fall of Troy and the incident of the Trojan Horse (as Odysseus was considered one of the smartest of the Greek heroes), Odysseus struggled for another 10 or so years to return to his home in Ithaca.

Upon his return, no one recognizes him, not even his life-long friends. He comes to find that other men are attempting to take over his house and take his wife as their own. He disguises himself as a beggar and goes to his home. As he approaches his home, he sees his dog Argos in a seriously neglected condition, lying in feces, diseased and old (a 20 year old dog). Argos is so weakened that he does not have enough strength to approach his master, but is able to lower his ears and wag his tail in recognition.

Odysseus does not greet Argos as it would signal that the master was home. Rather, he passes Argos while shedding a tear. As Odysseus enters his house, Argos dies.

Post: #6

-M-

Oftentimes when we think of heroes, we pair the hero with the qualities that they represent. When we think of Hercules, strength normally comes to mind.

I have been writing other things related to experiences gone by in my life and one of the natural effects is that other memories re-surface. Now I will pen a few memories in regard to someone whom made no Earth shattering impression in the history of mankind like (the mythical) Hercules, but he made an outstanding impression on me through his example and by sharing it with you he takes part of his place in history.

We shall call him M. I will begin the story by letting you know from the onset that he was one of the numerous fatalities in our class, he was not the first, nor was he the last. He was the only one in our class that was married and he eventually had a child who was almost a year old at the time of his passing. This was not normal as most of the Test Pilots understood the nature of the job and chose not to put others in the highly probably position of being widowed or orphaned. Be that as it may M, like the rest of us, marched to the beat of his own drum.

M was a solid professional like the rest of his classmates. We were good at what we did and there was always a healthy sense of competition, but in the end we knew that we were all on the same team and were there to help one another to accomplish the mission at hand as we believed it served something greater than any of us individually or collectively. What stood out about M was his constancy. The man was a rock. It seemed that nothing got him off balance. He was an example of Frame. In all of the years I knew him, not once did I see him get mad, upset, pissed off, complain or say something bad about anyone...not once. He would call a spade a spade and did not let anybody get by with pulling off crap, but the way he did it was like he was a paragon of virtue, and he was. He had the moral high ground. He was steadfast, like the beating of a heart, and everyone knew it. He exampled it each day through his actions, in the office, on the flight line, in a briefing, sitting around the lunch table or have a beer with the guys afterward. This made the team much stronger, and in a way it was comforting. The nature of our work was change and pushing into the unknown, yet there was this M force that gave us a certain stability; sure we could survive without it, but it helped us to do our jobs more effectively and live a life that was simply…better.

When a member of the group passed, it was normal for the priest or minister to ask those remaining about the deceased in the preparation of the eulogy. When the priest came to talk with me, I mentioned M´s constancy and recalled both humorous and serious stories regarding him and his examples of being constant, but I also thought, it was more than that; through his constancy M was an example of what it meant to be a good man, a hero. For that is what he was to me, a good man. And I thought if they can put that on my gravestone or say that about me, I will have made a difference to those around me, even if it is only an example; as if being an example is a small thing. Perception changes with age and experience.

Naturally during the time after the funeral and especially in the passing months, the other pilots wanted to give something back and do something for the family and the realization is that one of the best things you can do for those surviving is to simply be there and be present, constantly. We did that, but I also felt the prompting to write a letter to his son, who was only an infant at the time. The letter described a man that the son would never know directly. I let him know through examples of his father´s deeds that his father was a good man and was constant like a rock for those around him. I know that his widow was comforted in this, as M had been a source of comfort to us, even though he may not have been conscious of his example. His son would now have something more substantive to remember his father.

M lives in my memory and now part of it has been shared with others and he takes a larger place in the history of men, as an example of constancy and as a hero in my eyes.

Post: #7

(01-17-2016 08:37 PM)NASA Test Pilot Wrote:  The word hero is from the ancient Greek ἥρως. He is what is considered good and noble in the originating culture. The hero is an example of many things. One such thing is altruism, the willingness to sacrifice himself for someone or something greater than himself. He is the achiever of great deeds.

The word excellence or virtue is from the ancient Greek ἀρετή, We more commonly see the word as Arete. Arete is the term Homer often uses in describing heroes. The hero is of the most effective in the use of his faculties of mind, of body, and of soul. Mind, body and soul are each developed in Greek Hero.

Arete was personified as a goddess. One surviving story of the goddess Arete concerns the early life of the hero Hercales (Hercules). At a crossroads, Arete appeared to Heracles as a young maiden, and offered him glory and a life of struggle against evil; her counterpart the goddess Kakia (κακία, "badness"), offered him wealth and pleasure. Heracles chose to follow the path of Arete.

Henceforth, I open a thread devoted to heroes as well as examples of heroism (past or present) in order so that they may inspire (the) men (reading) to be the most effective in the use of his faculties of Mind, Body, and Soul.

Talking conceptually about what is good and noble should also be examined as well as its relationship to concepts such as self-preservation and villainy.

I am of the opinion that one of the primary reasons that Marvel comic movies are so popular now is because they are striking the nerve of a very basic archetype and need within the nature of a man that has very little outlet in the modern world. Heroes and heroic deeds are few and far between.

I posit that if men do not hold to the ideal of heroism (or perhaps villainy) and pursue excellence as they create on the screen of life, what has been created will be severely diminished and perhaps will perish and something more hideous will temporarily take its place until men rediscover this impulse.

Interesting you mention Marvel comics. I would say nothing about their quality, but would rather mention the fact how even modern mindset is able to comprehend what are the traits of a hero, and unmistakably present them to audience, but when asked to describe contemporary heroes, or heroic deeds, they will usually either point to some humanist, or to somebody who did his job with exceptional rigorousness. He will describe heroic occasions, rather than heroes who are such in their complete and ever present attitude towards life.

Obviously, even in pop culture, heroes are: self-sufficient, brave, decisive, plain spoken and direct, independent, they initiate instead of responding to other people's initiative (Conan The Destroyer: "Enough talk!" and he throws dagger towards an enemy awaiting no particular opportunity or giving any instructions to anyone), they are not possessive, are usually male, single and young, are always prepared for hostility, and above all, have a sense of honor as their highest ideal in relations with other people.

And even in scenarios generated by pop culture heroic themes, these heroes are usually judged my their environment as villains and lunatics until of course they save the day at the epilogue. Which is why they usually wear a mask of an awkward, almost effeminate average nobody.

That being said, paradigm goes as: Hey everybody, this is what a heroes looks and acts like, but don't you dare become one you non-conformist, now go home and spit money on the table and console your wife.

Post: #8

People always need something to look up to either as an ideal to strive for or as a sign of a great past. Heroes play the role of this "ideal" personified, inspiring the "common" people, showing them that greatness is not something abstract but in fact something tangible, albeit with a lot of effort.

Comics or film heroes follow a set of archetypes that, whether we acknowledge it or not, speak to all of us in an "unconscious" or atavistic way no matter what our cultural background is.

Nowadays it is Iron Man or Spiderman just as in ancient times it was Hercules or Ulysses, people that show virtues and adhere to codes of morality, behaviour etc. when most people prefer to back down or compromise.

By the way, the letter is the noblest thing you could have done in a situation like this. I was really touched by your description. Deeds like yours inspire determination and hopefully will provide the child with a reason to strive and become as good as his father or even better.

Post: #9

Great scene from a great movie: