No More Hereos: A look at the impact heroes have on our culture today and the role of "Psychological Contracting" in the hero / devotee relationship

By John H. Hudson

Heroes uplift others by inspiring, offering hope, and reminding about the good in the world (although they occasionally disappoint). This book explores the phenomena that can occur when heroes disappoint in the development of a young person and the impact it can have on their social maturity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: May 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885903554

John H. Hudson

John H. Hudson earned a Bachelor of Arts and MBA (Organization Development). He is an ICF Certified Executive Coach and holds an Advanced Human Resource Executive Certificate from the University of Michigan. His corporate expertise ranges from work in industries as varied as petroleum, pharmaceuticals, semi conductors, and gaming. As a Human Resource Executive, he has earned distinction in Operations, Employee Relations, Strategy, and Leadership Development. He has conducted workshops in both the Harvard and Stanford Schools of Business.

Book preview

Preface

I was inspired to write this book because as I work with young people today, I am increasingly concerned that they appear to be growing ever more cynical regarding people who could be potential positive role models for them. It is happening in all areas of life. We are seeing it in sports, entertainment, religion, business, education, and the list goes on and on.

I believe this will not serve our society well as we attempt to grow, build, and groom future leadership. In this book, I not only point out some of the most glaring examples of people in current, prominent, and visible roles but also provide some areas of focus that can help us to correct this disturbing trend.

c01

The Importance of Heroes

I f heroes suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth, humanity would spontaneously burst into a cacophony of bloodshed and war. America is kept together by heroes, whether they are on TV, in books, in the army, in history, in cartoons, or in the government or are religious figures. Heroes lead, inspire, and entertain the masses. This is why heroes, with all their mistakes and shortcomings, are vital to humanity. It is argued that heroic stereotypes are unrealistic and outdated, but heroes show how vital they are to society when they inspire younger generations to do great things and truly help other people and when they influence movements toward the improvement of humanity.

Role models in children’s lives greatly affect their futures, putting a large amount of pressure on those role models to set a good example. Fathers are good examples of role models. If a child lacks a positive role model for their future, that child will seek a fatherly figure to mentor him, whether that person has the ability to mentor or not. Children often compare their father or fatherly figures to heroes, most notably Superman or Wonder Woman. They think of them as being invincible and rock solid in life. Young children usually can’t comprehend the fact that no one is perfect, but if children think their parents are flawless, they should strive to be as well. Brian Littrel, an American singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a member of the vocal group The Backstreet Boys said, Shoot for the moon, and you’ll land among the stars. Children should be given high goals in life to shoot for, like trying to be Superman/Wonder Woman, so that they land high in the moral scale of humanity. If children don’t get high moral standards right from the beginning, it is very hard for them to attain a high level of morality later in life.

Humanity would be much worse off at the present time if select individuals hadn’t influenced history. For example, how messed up would the United States be if Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr. had never existed? These are both heroes who did what a true hero would. They both stood up for the right things, tried as hard as they could, and never stopped until they made a difference for the world. These two people made some of the most lasting changes toward the views on racism and equality. However, there are countless others who also made big differences in their communities and the world, such as Mother Theresa, Martin Luther, Florence Nightingale, Amy Carmichael, and George Washington. None of these people backed down when their motives were questioned; because they all knew what they were doing was right. This motivation shows how important heroes are to society, since if any one of these people hadn’t existed, humanity would be very different today. This also shows how much of an impact an individual doing the right thing can have on the world. One individual can impact the world by choosing what is right. This is the trait of a hero.

None of us can do everything by ourselves, but individuals can influence large numbers of people to do things for the better—or even for the worse. George Washington set off an avalanche of opposition toward the British, but it would have been impossible for him to do it alone. People needed to listen to what he was saying, and he had to be a strong leader to be heard. Heroes must have a strong will to do what they hope to achieve. If it has to do with changing the world, then they need people to back them up. Hitler is an example of the other side of the coin. If no one listened to him and considered him to just be insane, he wouldn’t have had nearly as much influence on the world as he did. As Hitler had a strong will to do evil, heroes must have a strong will to do good. If they don’t have a strong will, their push toward the betterment of humanity won’t go very far. They need to be set in their goals and never back down on what they believe in. Just these two examples of George Washington and Hitler show how much influence one person can have on the world and how essential heroes are to improving the world. If certain people hadn’t questioned Hitler’s ideas, our flags could have swastikas instead of stars and stripes.

Heroes direct children in the right direction, help the people around them, and leave lasting impressions on the past, present, and future. Heroes stand up for what is right when others sit down, do ten times more than what is asked of them, question authority when authority is wrong, and fight for the rights of all people. The world of today has been shaped by the heroes of the past, as the future will be shaped be the heroes of today. Heroes will be forever needed and respected in society. One of the best quotes summarizing heroes is by C. S. Lewis, who once said, Each hero is human, a rainbow of thoughts and emotions; subject to quirks, failures, triumphs and, yes, even flaws. Each person should look up to these flawed but heroic rainbows and thank them for everything they have done in their lives and for making the world a better place.

c02

Uses of Heroes

Introduction

This book is an exploration of the importance of heroes, why they initially become important to us, and why they continue to be useful throughout our lives. It may be tempting to think of the idea of having heroes as an immature one, as something that we all grow out of eventually. This is perhaps due to the importance that we attach to them in our youth, a time when they seem especially significant. Popular opinion can also have us believe that we should be able to rely on ourselves, and our own egos may add to this impression. The dictionary tells us that a hero is a person admired for his or her courage or achievements. I’d like to use the term here in a slightly broader sense, as someone we look up to and admire, for whatever reason. The word hero is a masculine term, but for simplicity’s sake I shall use it here to speak of both men and women.

Early Importance

From an early age, we become familiar with the idea of heroes. The first heroes we come to know are perhaps those who look after us at a young age, our parents or guardians. These are the first people we look up to, and once we come to understand the idea of a hero, they may be the first that we choose to classify as such. The fact that heroes matter to us so much when we are younger is indicative of their fundamental importance. When we are younger, we are unsure of who we are; we may be building an identity or searching for one, and heroes help us in this process by embodying qualities that we wish to assimilate. A good example of this is comic book heroes. In many superhero comics, we have characters who portray universal qualities—those that we value as a society: justice, honor, bravery, empathy, kindness, and so on. These traits are brought to the fore, painted in bright colors, and presented within moralistic story lines. The heroes of these comics may be simple and wear their morals on their sleeves, but their importance to us as children is a microcosm of how heroes will matter to us for the remainder of our lives.

Experience

The demands of our lives can often limit the ways in which we experience the world, as can the conditioning of the society that we live within. It is easy to become carried along, to lose ourselves in the sea of predescribed experience that is made available to us, and to accept that this is all there is or all that we should expect. Part of the joy of youth is in the sense of