Who are the greatest heroes in your lifetime?

I was in the army at the time of the Cuban missile crisis and had no idea of its occurrence. Nobody had any idea how close we came to annihilation until Arkhipov's memoirs were published.

Kennedy was naive to give that much power to the navy; he was in the navy and should have known better. Had Arkhipov not been on that particular submarine the torpedoes would probably have been launched, because only the two men in agreement-- the captain and the political advisor--were needed to fire it. Arkhipov stepped in a stopped it. You have to see the pbs documentary to appreciate the severity of the situation.

I was aboard a destroyer during that crisis. We were on high alert and nobody was allowed off of the ship.

My dad knew him, they met several times and were going to work together, but that didn't happen. If I remember, they went to the same church, St. Martin of Tours, but I might misremember. They might or might not have met at some Knights of Columbus get together. My dad died quite early in my life, re my present timeline.

The young man at Tiananmin Square that stood up to a tank and died.

He died? I didn't know that.

The same guy who imprisoned thousands of American citizens because of their Japanese heritage?

Interesting.

This is a forum for debate so...

RFK?

Why? Because he was killed? Truly tragic but he had far less to fear from such a fate than MLK or Malcom X, and he really did nothing.

Benazir Bhutto?

Same thing.

You do know she was horribly corrupt don't you?

David Bowie

OK, but what is your definition of a "hero"

Malcolm X:

I can see that

Bernie Sanders

Don't make me laugh

Then you are rejecting the classic definition of "hero"

Amazing. I'd never think to criticize someone on the basis of people they had a great deal of respect for. Impressive!

How about this: you just tell me who your heroes are and let me disparage them.

Maybe we need to come up with a term for "someone I greatly admire," but coluber set the definition of hero (in keeping with the classic definition) and so it would be polite to abide by it.

Lieutenant Michael P. "Murph" Murphy: and virtually every other Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

Saladin

MLK

Malcolm X

Hannibal

Nelson Mandela

Arminius

Boudica

Etc

Amazing!

Didn't think you were so thin skinned.

What is the definition of "hero"

I just gave you mine, disparage away

BTW - I'm happy to defend my selections. You're not?

Excellent!

That behavior is beneath me.

Oh well la de da!

assholes gotta be assholes

Well...heros can be assholes also.
Personally I find the whole concept excessive.

Truth be told most of them have a death wish.
Very rarely their drive is based on Reason.
I detest the idea of having a sense of self importance.
When I help or make a stand for something I don't do it out of moral personal high ground. My action is necessary from the pov I compute from, therefore authorship worthless...

The idea of being a Hero emerges from this cult of self importance.
A social usefull ilusion that sells soap operas and divides people in 2 categories, the special ones, and the worthless.

Good heroes shy away of their actions and always have doubts about their
reasons and motives. When the outcome is positive they tend to attribute the cause to a group, a team, and think of their decisive roll as being just the final trigger on a far more complex unfolding process.
In sum, good heroes fully reject Heroism.

she defended her choice back on p 1.
I believe we could start a dust up if someone merely asked for the time. I could be wrong, but I dont think so.

I see nothing wrong with acknowledging people or events that in some way elevate the human condition. It's not like we are making human sacrifices to them.

my dad is hero

The idea that human condition can be elevated is a social useful illusion.
If that makes you feel better then go ahead. I just gave my personal 2 cents on the subject.