America needs heroes (rewrite)

For years now, almost nightly on my news, I’ve heard of heroes from 9/11/01 and this war on terrorism. When I see people talk about others’ in the military currently, most people are very full of praise and thanks for keeping them safe and free. This puzzles me, because to my knowledge, our soldiers aren’t fighting for our freedom, they’re fighting for Iraqi freedom.

When I was in the military there wasn’t much respect for us, so I wondered if maybe I was a bit jealous of the adulation. But no, it was clear, this is Bandwagon Patriotism at its finest, and citizens could care less about the troops. Please come home safe! I’ll tie a yellow ribbon! These are hollow gestures because real thoughtfulness would be to want them to be home with you, safe and alive.

But America needs heroes, and if there aren’t any, we will make our own.

Policeman doing his job on 9/11. Not a hero. Fireman doing his job on 9/11. Not a hero. One of them might be a relative who died on that day. And that’s tragic. But it doesn’t make them a hero.

When you’re getting paid to do a job and then it goes wrong, you aren’t a hero. You are unfortunate. If you do something extraordinary, then maybe, just maybe you’re a hero.