Where have all the heroes gone?
Since Pete Seeger coined the phrase during an ad-lib performance of ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone?’ the question has become a permanent part of American culture. Its usage has grown at such an exponential rate that if one initiates an internet search for it the hits range into the thousands. If so many people are asking the question, there must be a reason. I believe that reason to be that we are in fact losing our heroes (and potential heroes). There has been a socially and etymologically significant change taking place in the Western world where political correctness dictates use of language down to the basest levels of human existence. A Janitor is now only to be referred to as a Custodial Technician, a Garbage Man is a Civil Engineer, and a File Clerk is an Administrative Assistant. Similarly, persons with emotional or mental development problems are Special. Of course they’re special, so is every human being on the planet. What makes them more special? A word, that’s what. So what we are seeing is an attempt to raise aspects of a person socially perceived as inferior ‘up’ to a level with the norm. Well, one may argue that this is a good thing; but before saying that, maybe one should look at the other end of the PC pendulum. Those qualities which heretofore raised one above one’s peers to be admired and imitated (thereby contributing to the social good) are being trampled upon at the earliest stages of their development. Speaking from personal observation, the child who excels in academics or shows aptitude for creative arts is either left to his or her own devices with no encouragement or is outright discouraged from ‘flaunting’ creativity, intelligence, ingenuity; all for the sake of fellow students who must be assured that they are ‘just as good’. They are just as good, and they have the potential to contribute just as much to society; just in different ways. How this disregard of nurturing talent started I do not know, I am not a sociologist, anthropologist, whoeverstudiesthesethingsologist or anything of the sort. But it is the very fact that an unlearned person such as myself can see this phenomena clearly which is most terrifying; it says to me that our society has reached a point of deliberate, self-imposed ‘leveling-out’ that it is having a noticeable, tangible effect. So I think I have an answer as to where all the heroes are going. They are being defenestrated through the picture-perfect window of political correctness. And if it continues, I hold little hope of a future where my children will have role models and mentors. And such a future seems very bleak to me.
See you next month, God bless. |
