Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
Good hearts at work, okay, and the story certainly gets my sympathy.
But please, let's leave out "heroism" here. We have a traditional understanding of what heroism is, and that understabding emerged over centuries and was already depicted in sagas of old. Let's stop this inflationary abuse of the the term "hero". there is nothing heroic in what these people do. Love for animals, selflessness to some degree, altruism, okay - but no heroism.
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I disagree with your comment.
Let’s say you’re driving down the street and see a house on fire. You look up and see a child in an upstairs window screaming for help obviously trapped by the fire. You scan the crowd and see a people running to their cars. They emerge with video cameras so they can tape it, possibly to sell the tape to the local news or post it on Youtube. These are the scumbags the world could do without.
Then, out of the crowd you see two people running up to the front of the house, climbing the porch, putting themselves at risk, doing everything they can to save the child. Heros. They do it only because it's the right thing to do.
It is this same type of person who takes the time and makes the effort to save a kitten, because it's the right thing to do. That's what heros are, people with compassion who are willing to make a sacrifice and not give it a second thought.
In one respect I agree with your comment, it wasn't an act of heroism to save the kitten. None the less, these people are heroes without a doubt, because they are what heroes are made of.