Cathy Nelson: Cathy is a middle school library media specialist in Myrtle Beach, SC. She is also a participant of many educational networks, including the South Carolina Association of School Librarians, ISTE, and, Classroom 2.0 (among other nings), Facebook, Twitter, and othere areas of the blogosphere. She is a blogger as well, blogging at TechnoTuesday: Cathy Nelson's Professional Thoughts.
David Warlick
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I think that some very cogent points were made- especially Thomas M.'s question "Is a hero someone that changes the world, or changes an individual? "
I'd like to respond to that question in particular.
I believe that, though a 'hero' may change the world, they must change an individual- to change that individual's thought process, to shake the roots of that person's experiences, to change their perception of the world- in order to be recognized as such.
You see, there are those who many would recognize as heroes if they knew of what they had done. But there is no way for the general populace to know of or acknowledge these people- there is no way for them to be recognized as heroes. And if no one is there to say they are heroes, are they heroes, or just people who did deeds with good intentions (supposedly)?
I can illustrate further by bringing up the classic philosophical question "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Well, though modern thinking gives an obvious answer to that question almost instantaneously, the thinking behind it still applies to this situation. We know the tree would make a sound, but calling someone a hero is not like cutting down a tree in the forest- it cannot make a sound, or anything tangible- we must work this out in our minds alone.
Take, for example, factory workers in Germany during World War II who, instead of putting gunpowder in the shells they were manufacturing, put sand inside them. Were they heroes then? No one would have called them such around them. No one was there to know of their deeds beside themselves, and the Germans around them who would have called them villains instead of heroes. But now, we immediately think "Yes, they were absolutely heroes!" Without even truly comprehending what we're thinking. But we're here now to say that. Were they then?
If that story was new to you, it changed your way of thought. It changed how you thought about that situation, even if only slightly. They are heroes, perhaps, but because they changed you, and because you called them as such- not because they changed the world.
Phew.
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