Their heroic deeds are always special, but these heroes are just plain folks, ordinary citizens, who “do what they had to do” when moved to action by some call to service. Typically, they say, “It was nothing special;” “I did what anyone would do in that situation.” And some add, “and what everyone ought to do.” I refer to this phenomenon as “the banality of heroism.” Doing so, obviously trades off of its similar opposite in the phrase coined by Hannah Arendt, “the banality of evil,” that she used to describe why modern criminals, like Nazi Adolph Eichmann were so frightening precisely because they are “terrifyingly normal.”
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I don't accept her premise that they were 'normal' people. Hitler was not normal due to the circumstances he found himself due to the fact that the Jews involved the U.S. in a war that we had no reason to be engaged. WWI. He was bewildered and embittered by finding himself homeless and penniless at the conclusion of WWI, a war that Germany had actually won and was willing to let end, and everything go back to normal. Yet, we entered it, and it was later found out that by our entering that war, Lord Balfour's declaration was lended legitimacy. Also, Wilson didn't like Austria's government and had socialistic idea's he wanted to play with by experimenting them first in Europe. Of course, it could also be international bankers wanting our involvement, again, I possibly go back to the Jews. <grin> Possibly, it could have been the work of a Maha chohan, balancing the consciousness of humanity. With that last, I was really going out on a limb. Consider it anti-climax.
No matter what the hero says, concerning his status as normal, he is not. This person who will stand up in a given situation and act even at the risk of personal harm, to do what is just in a situation, is special. You will find them in many places among crowds of people. Yet, if one attempts through some algorythm to discover precisely who and where these people are, they will fail. You cannot know when the Spirit in a man will take the drivers seat. Most of what we are is not contained within the physical body. We simply have some connections to the rest of us, to a more or less degree of tenuity.
Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
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You have to believe in the impossible in order to become.