12 Nov 08 Wednesday
American Hero
Category:
News and PoliticsLet me start by saying that a majority of my blogs are started by little "triggers". I read something, hear something, or even just see an act of something and it sets my mind off into a tangent or rant. This blog is no different than most.
Now, the term "American Hero" is the subject. This is not particularily about an American Hero. Here is how this blog's birth came about.
I opened my webpage, the homepage was charter communications and they had something about Babe Ruth's plaque from Yankee Stadium being moved, and I went to baberuth.com.I clicked on "biography" and in the middle of the first paragraph I read this,"The Ruths had a total of eight children, but only two survived past infancy: a daughter named Mamie and a son named George, Jr.--the boy who would grow up to be an American hero."
Here is the Tangent-Mind-Rant that lingers in my head awaiting to escape. A few questions and comments and if you read this and give a shit you can answer them if you can.
Why is the term American Hero used so LIGHTLY?What do YOU consider an American Hero?andWhy the fuck are Sports figures considered "American" Heros?Why aren't they called what they should be, "American" Role Models?
Yes, his career was amazing and great and so on and so forth, but this guy, George Herman Ruth Jr. is NOT an American Hero. He is an ICONIC Baseball player and a Legend of Baseball.
When I think of American Hero I think of American Soldiers. Not me personally or many of the soldiers I served with. Yes, they are heros in a sense, but when I think "Hero" I think larger-than-life. I think guys who went above and beyond what we, as soldiers, normally do. Not to take anything away with what we normally do in adverse conditions, it is fucking amazing the shit we can withstand and do when we have to.
The first name that pops into my mind when I think of an American Hero is Audie Murphy. Mostly because his popularity and publicity since his return from WWII. Most of us know him as "the most decorated soldier" of WWII. If you do some research you will find other soldiers, not necessarily from that war, that have been more decorated, but the point remains: He is, and always will be, a true, real, American Hero.When I think of American Hero I think of Lawrence Joel. He was a medic in Vietnam. He saved a lot of lives after his unit was ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong soldiers. That is an American Hero.I think of that book filled with names of Medal of Honor recipients who went above and beyond for others.THAT is a hero. Not some drunk guy who played some sport for money, certainly not sports figures of this generation who, in my opinion, over half of them do it for the money and not the game. Figures like Boxers who retired 87 times and come back because they can't budget their hundreds of millions of dollars (Good going Mike Tyson, went from $300 million, after prison time, to bankrupt), I think of Alex Rodriguez who plays purely for money. I remember him signing the largest contract in baseball history (at that time) for the Texas Rangers.
At any rate, the term is used far too loosely in this country. Baseball Hero, or whatever sport you define the person in is one thing, but American Hero? That is fucking insulting to the soldier's who died for this country's freedom. It is insulting for the people who FOUNDED this country, preserved this country, and bled for a better America. Those are heros. Not some fucking asshole who could swing a bat, or throw a baseball, or shoot a basketball. Sorry Jordan, sorry Ruth, sorry Favre; You are not fucking heros!When you use that popularity and money to bring change to this country and this world in a bigger sense than a sport, you will earn that title, "American Hero."
The End.
