we can be heroes

We all need heroes. But they hardly exist. And the ones that do fail miserably at some point or another in our lives. These heroes fall, and they don't rise again. It is an inevitable fact that these pseudo-exemplars will crash, and bring you down with them. Tina Turner once voiced her frustration by insisting that "we don't need another hero", perhaps for fear of facing yet another disappointment.

We find heroes both in fiction and in real life.

Unless you live in fantasy-land (of which I was guilty before, but not anymore), the former has this fundamental disadvantage of being fake -- a fabrication, a sham, a hoax, an artifice, a ruse, a deception, a make-believe illusion conjured by manipulative writers intermittently high on drugs projecting their personal ideals and doctrine into fictional characters, simultaneously belying their own inadequacies. There is a term for this: terminological inexactitude (in other words, "faking it").

We don’t want that because they don't work. They satisfy your craving for escape; a pointless exercise in cognitive dissonance. They last, sometimes for centuries, but they don't work. Does 'Lord Of The Rings' inspire you to lead a better lifestyle, to do good and strike evil to the ground? Maybe for a day or two, until you realize it doesn't work that way -- you don’t have incredible foresight to predict the future; the cavalry doesn't arrive at the most opportune moment; the best intentions usually make things worse; there is no one willing to sacrifice their immortality for you; the world is not defined in black and white; you don't have a sword sharper than your enemy's; and sometimes you can't even see your enemy.

Finally, you have to succumb to the fact these feel-good stories of unflinching honor, dignity and justice are just that -- feel good stories (with a contrived ending to boot). Deconstruct it deep enough, and fiction is nothing more than entertainment -- a flight of fantasy on the trajectory of imagination. Are you willing to base your hopes and dreams on fictitious beings, and fictitious events and fictitious things? At the whim and fancy of a partly-deranged storyteller with an addiction?

Real-life heroes, as I've said, barely exist; too far and too few in between. So let's make a pact. Let's sign a binding agreement on the veneer of our conscience for all to see. Let us create real-life heroes, by being heroes ourselves. Let us be the best that we can be, and achieve a level of transcendence for others to aspire to.

Talk is cheap and everything is easier said than done, but look to the stars and step forward to be accounted for. We'll guide each other every step of the way. We'll make it a conscious and collective effort. We'll use real-life heroes as a stepping stone to further our cause. We'll try not to disappoint. It won't be easy, and we'll definitely fall along the way. But we will make it count, because we will rise again. We'll start today, so spread the word. Today will be the day the heroes prevail.

PLAYLIST

Highway Song -- System Of A Down

Minerva -- Deftones

New Pollution -- Beck

Man In The Mirror -- Michael Jackson

Stairway To Heaven -- Led Zeppelin