We honor past heroes. We remember and recite their words, retelling the stories of their deeds. We name our institutions, our streets, our mountains, our rivers, even our children, after them. We put up statues in parks and hang paintings in our buildings. We put their faces on our stamps and our currency. We exalt their memory and use their wisdom to define our present and future.
We also honor the challenges they helped us overcome. They were our explorers and pathfinders, the soldiers who won our battles, and the great minds that moved us toward a safer and more peaceful existence. We write stories and sing songs praising them. We fill buildings with artifacts of their successes, from huge museums dedicated to enhancing their legend, to every community’s local archive, complete with the accomplishments of their favorite sons and daughters.
Their accomplishments shape our lives.
Yet, in our adulation we often forget that our long dead heroes were also racist, bigoted, misogynistic, elitist, superstitious, ignoramuses. Their concepts of liberty, equality, and justice were only meant to apply to people who came from their gene pool. All the rest were considered less than them, often much less. A state of casual cruelty and distain toward those considered below their status was normal and universal during their time. Their societies were caste societies where the rich preyed upon the poor, the strong upon the weak, and the educated upon the illiterate. From a few thousand years ago to a few decades ago, our great heroes, the wise and revered political, religious, and cultural leaders, all exemplified what we now define as the worst of humanity. And, still, we set them on pedestals and use them as examples of how to live an honorable, fulfilling, and prosperous life.
We have come miles beyond them in understanding who we are, and where we fit in this world. Undoubtedly, our hero worship of these icons, the words they uttered and the actions they took, form barriers to our future. We have learned how to be better. Why can’t we allow ourselves to see the perversion in our complete reverence for these very flawed human beings. To truly gain from their accomplishments we need every truth exposed.
Unfortunately, from our earliest awareness to the present time we have been told these heroes come in an all or nothing package. Present leaders would rather we suffer to protect a mythical past than accept a less than grand one. But to suffer for a myth is to suffer for nothing, and to force others to accept that myth because you refuse to accept change, is to insult the very heroes you wish to preserve. They may have been the product of less enlightened times, but they sacrificed to provide a better future.
Just a Picture
