"Heroes" – What Are They All About?

By Robert E. Freer, Jr., President of The Free Enterprise Foundation

It has been a month and yet we mourn our fallen heroes. Nine of our best and true have fallen in the line of duty. They answered the call to fight a fire in a furniture warehouse without sprinklers and with a hazardous steel truss roof. At the time the roof collapsed, they were searching for employees feared to be still inside the structure. For every fireman and his family this is an age old fear with which the fire fighting fraternity must live. They do not know what they will find when the bell calls, they just respond and give their all so we may be safe.

Speaking a hundred years ago, Chief Edward Crocker of the New York Fire Department noted, “Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department, they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman, his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work. They were not thinking of getting killed when they went where death lurked. They went there to put the fire out, and got killed. Firefighters do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires.”

Chief Crocker continued, “I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one, but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. Our proudest moment is to save lives. Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even of supreme sacrifice.”

This idea of living for something bigger than oneself is a common element in our heroes. Arthur Ashe, quite a role model himself, noted, “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”

What is the characteristic of heroism? Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, “The characteristic of heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity.” But the hero cannot be reconciled to the world view of what or how far to go in pursuit of what? Immortality? Fame? Or is it just a sense of service above self?

Emerson notes, “The heroic cannot be common, nor the common the heroic….if you would serve your brother…do not take back your words {or deeds} when you find that prudent people do not commend you. Emerson goes on to tell the hero to stick to his guns and ends with the “heroic” advice, “Always do what you are afraid to do.”

What is it that makes a man-or woman choose the path of the hero? Man would not run the risk that is inherent in the hero’s role but for love of something bigger than himself. Fame alone is a superficial pursuit when life is at risk; likewise money alone cannot be the lure. Fame and money require a society in which to enjoy the reward. To be a hero one has to be connected to humanity and its betterment or at least its security and preservation. Will Rogers’ quipped, “We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by.” Will, as always, has it right. Without a crowd there would be no heroes. For the fireman, the fallen policeman, the soldier lost to enemy fire, there is nothing that will replace what has been taken from those they leave behind. For them there is only heartache and a continuing need for their human touch, their shoulder on which to lean and to rely.

The crowd of which Will Rogers spoke is there not to applaud but to shed a tear for quiet nobility lost and those who mourn. As the rifle cracks or the siren wails over their fallen bones, it rends our hearts. It is for us to pick up the burden for those they leave behind; to sustain them in their sorrow and help them on their way. Families in Charleston and from over this great land have responded to our call with incredible generosity, but we know in life that the heroes’ compensation was insufficient to carry them in comfort and many needed second jobs to serve us as they did.

In this instance, Charleston’s loss has captured the public’s attention and the combination of donated funds and city, state and federal benefits that will be available look impressive, but what about the more than 100 firemen annually in the United States who give their lives so we can be safe? Their loss often receives but a day’s mention in their city’s paper.

While our community can be proud that our community and government leadership are humane and vigilant in protecting our own, we can insist that even if their compensation in life cannot truly reflect their value to us, we can do better than to assure their value in death reflects the cost of raising a family and the years denied to them to see their children’s education through to completion. I leave the actuarial exercise to others, but whatever death benefit that is arrived at should be generously calculated with inflation in mind. A good place to start in our state would be college scholarships for their children to any of our state supported colleges and universities.

Copyright © 2007 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and elected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, He can be reached by E-mail at The Citadel . Copies of his earlier columns can be found The Free Enterprise Foundation.

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