Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What constitutes a true HERO?

The word HERO gets thrown around alot lately, and I think, has lost it meaning. "My son just graduated Fire-fighting school! He's a HERO!".

I always believed a hero was someone who performed a brave act without regard to self, without regard to personal safety.

A hypothetical:

Is a paid fire-fighter, who goes into a burning building once given the go-ahead, and is donned in the latest safety gear, a hero? He is getting paid to do this. I don't think that qualifies him to be called a hero.
This same firefighter, was on the way home from work, and saw a house on fire; and rushed in to save a kid - well, then I'd consider that heroic.
Do you guys think the term hero is overused lately?

I'm tracking with you.
When the chips are down and the risks are high, but someone proceeds anyway, they are heroic (when used in the context of preserving life).

My father went to the Philippines when he was 31 years old and fought an enemy he had never heard of. He was discharged in November of 1945, spending the entire war in service of his country. He wasn't support personnel, he was at all the hot spots throughout the Philippines fighting the Japanese.

He came home to an empty pier with no ticker tape parade, got on a bus and came back to Montana to a job that didn't exist anymore. He found another job with the railroad and went back to work until he got disabled in a train wreck putting him out of work for the rest of his life.

He was good man with character and grit. He never asked for help from the government for any of his disabilities and left a rich heritage.

My son is a police officer that puts on a vest and belt full of gear every day to go to work. I always pray he remains safe.

The difference, my father I believe is a hero, my son is a cop, Heroes are a product of life changing circumstances that are greater than the chosen occupation...

+1........

Many folks do brave things, but the line of "heros don't come back" sticks in my mind.

Brave folks make contributions and a hero makes an extremely costly committment.

Heroes are a product do life changing circumstances that are greater than the chosen occupation...
[/quote]

I believe that nails it. For example, the Flight 93 passengers are heroes. No one asked them to risk what they did. The circumstances called for it, and they stepped up at 500 miles per hour and thousands of feet.

Great story. My father and yours are alike. My father was a Navy chief who fought in 2 oceans, and killed alot of enemy soldiers. Same deal, no fanfare, just true grit. He was a Silent Hero.

I pray your son stays safe as well.

A Hero is one who,in the face of deadly dangerous events,rises above the call of duty and good sense and does what needs to be done at great risk to life and health. Sometimes they survive,sometimes they don't, but they have far gone beyond what anyone could expect them to do.

Excellent as well.

See what I did there?

Hmmm

Is George Zimmerman a hero?

Is Muhammad a hero?

Is Christ a hero?

Is Siddhartha Gautama a hero?

How about Theodore Roosevelt?

Benjamin Franklin?

Mother Theresa?


'Hero' is largely determined by its context. A martyr is a hero to their brethren. A leader can be a hero to their people. A father can be a hero to his son.

Every one of the persons I listed, save for Zimmerman, have had a much greater impact than any one solider, firefighter, cop, or father could even aspire to.

That doesn't make anyone more or less of a 'hero'.


Perhaps you could flesh out your question and receive more substantive responses�

Yep

I think I found one.

8-year-old Tyler Doohan

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/us/new-york-boy-saves-family-fire/index.html

(CNN) -- In his final moments, 8-year-old Tyler Doohan managed to rescue six people -- including two younger children -- from a burning mobile home in upstate New York, authorities said.

A last-ditch effort, however, to save his disabled grandfather cost the boy his life. His body was found next to his grandfather, whom Tyler considered a best friend.

"It makes me really proud, it really does, but I just want him back," Tyler's mother, Crystal Vrooman, told CNN affiliate WHAM.

Tyler, an East Rochester resident, was staying at the home of relatives in the nearby town of Penfield on Sunday night when he noticed a fire in the single-wide trailer, said Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer.
Hero boy dies trying to save grandfather

As firefighters and sheriff's deputies responded to 4:45 a.m. emergency call, Tyler was able to wake six other people in the small trailer, including two more children, ages 4 and 6, the fire chief said.

Then Tyler went back into the blaze to help his grandfather, who was disabled and would have been unable to get out of the home on his own, Ebmeyer said.

"By that time, the fire had traveled to the back of the trailer," said Ebmeyer. "Unfortunately they both succumbed to heat and smoke."

The pair were found together on a bed in the back room. It appeared that the boy was trying to lift his grandfather from the bed when he was overcome by the smoke and fire, the fire chief said. Tyler and his grandfather were like best friends, Vrooman said.

An online fundraising campaign on YouCaring.com had raised more than $28,000 as of Wednesday for Tyler's funeral and his family.

Another relative was found dead in a front room, although his exact relation to Tyler was not clear.

Earlier, fire officials had released a mistaken version of the incident, where the grandfather's and uncle's locations were switched, due to incorrect information provided by a family member.

Tyler's mother said the boy broke away from his aunt outside the burning trailer and ran back inside to try to save his grandfather.

"All I could think about is how he couldn't breathe," Vrooman told WHAM.

She added: "I'm just so grateful that he went with people that he loved. He didn't go alone."

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation but believed to be accidental.

The conditions of the six survivors were not immediately available.

Ebmeyer said the trailer had no working smoke detector. He said that with so many people in one small mobile home, one alarm could have easily woken everyone in time to escape.

There was at least one space heater inside the trailer, the fire chief said.

Several pets -- including dogs, cats, a rabbit and hamsters -- also died in the fire, Ebmeyer said.

The Penfield Fire Company -- a volunteer unit -- intends to create a public service initiative to spread awareness and get smoke detectors out to the public, he said.

Meanwhile, Richard Stutzman Jr., interim superintendent of the East Rochester School District, where Tyler attended fourth grade, issued a statement:

"In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others -- and he truly is a hero."

Adolf Hitler meets this description.

^^^^^THIS young man is a GENUINE HERO!!!!! 8 years old and without thought for his own safety, went back into fire to save someone he loved greatly. I am going to raise one for him tonite.

Audie Leon Murphy!!

http://www.audiemurphy.com/

My idea of a Hero is a person who will knowing give his own life in the defense of others. Just because you are a member of some organization doesn't make you a Hero , this is a Title earned by your deeds and that alone.

I don't know what defines a hero. I know it when I see it. I know what isn't, and its not someone who sinks a 33 footer at the buzzer, 60 footer on the green at the Masters's or knocks a 102 mph fastball out of the park. People who proclaim them role models and hero's bug the livin hell out of me.

Couldn't have said it better, and can't really define it myself, but I remember a line I read by a reporter talking to a Medal of Honor recipient. The recipient, as it seems they all are, wondered why the fuss and fawning over him.She ( the reporter) told him simply " something has happened to you, which they could never understand�"