In the 1994 Robert
Redford-directed Quiz Show, brilliant
professor Charles Van Doren confesses in testimony before Congress that he had knowingly
participated in the rigging of a TV game show which led to a shocking national
scandal. The charming Van Doren, played by Ralph Fiennes, is so sincere and
humble in his mea culpa that the
investigative committee members are won over; one after another commends him
for his “soul-searching fortitude” rather than holding him accountable for the
deception he helped perpetrate against the American public.
That is, until one
Congressman has the moral clarity to point out to Van Doren that “an adult of your
intelligence should not be commended for simply and at long last telling the
truth.”
I thought about
this scene as I read a
recent interview with actor Tom Hanks and director Clint Eastwood, who
teamed up for Sully: Miracle On The
Hudson. The movie is based on the real-life heroism of Chesley “Sully”
Sullenberger, who piloted a stricken passenger plane safely into New York's
Hudson River in 2009, saving the lives of all 155 people onboard. (The film has
already left theaters here in the States, but it opened in the UK this past
weekend – hence the aforementioned recent interview on a British website.)
Eastwood said that
Sullenberger deserves the label “hero” but that it has otherwise been devalued
thanks to political correctness. “It's certainly different to when I grew up,” said
Eastwood. “It's all in this sort of politically correct thing where everyone
has to win a prize. All the little boys in the class have to go home with a
first place trophy. The use of the word 'hero' is a little bit overdone but I
don't think so in Sully's case. He went extra and beyond what was expected.”
Spot on, Tom. Personal
sacrifice in the act of service to others is the essential ingredient of modern
heroism (as opposed to the classical notion of heroism, which was centered
on great deeds undertaken in the pursuit of personal glory). “That happens
on occasion,” Hanks continued, but today “hero” is “ridiculously overused” and
has become “a shorthand for accomplishment.”
"Not all
accomplishments are heroic accomplishments,” he said. “Sometimes it's just
people doing the right thing and you don't necessarily deserve kudos for doing
the right thing” – precisely the point the Congressman made to Charles Van Doren
in Quiz Show.
Doing the right
thing is not always easy and indeed, sometimes the consequences are painful.
But it should be the baseline for our
behavior. It should be the standard by which we live our lives, decision by
decision, moment by moment. Doing the right thing is honorable but not
necessarily heroic.
Among CNN’s Top Ten Heroes
of 2015, for example, were: a woman in Surinam who has rescued, rehabilitated
and released hundreds of mammals back to the rainforest and created a
conservation nonprofit organization; a Native American woman whose nonprofit
helps members of a South Dakota Sioux reservation with employment, safe housing
and healthy food; and an orthopedic surgeon who treats patients in Chicago's
troubled neighborhoods, regardless of their ability to pay.
These people
clearly and admirably have dedicated themselves to serving others; they unquestionably
are making the world a better place. Are they heroes in the strictest sense of sacrificing
for others, of putting their lives on the line? Their CNN profiles don’t
indicate so.
This is not in any
way to suggest that CNN “Top Ten Heroes” have not sacrificed, accomplished
remarkable things, and earned our praise – only that we must be careful not to
devalue the word “heroism,” which should require an element of extraordinary
risk; it should be considered the highest level to which we strive to rise when
dire circumstances demand it.
Tom Hanks
acknowledges this distinction. Asked whether he drew on any real-life
near-death experiences when filming Sully’s
harrowing landing scene, he refreshingly admitted to being no hero. “I’m a
pussy, man. I'm an actor. I haven't done anything that's near death. Once I had
to swim in the open ocean in Cast Away.
Oh, jeepers. Terrible. Crazy. I've never experienced anything remotely like
this.”
That having been
said, Hanks may have overstated the point when he said, “Heroism is rare as
lightning storms.” While dramatic examples of heroism like Chesley Sullenberger’s
miracle water landing may be few and far between, there are less celebrated heroes
who move among us every day – in police uniforms, military uniforms, and
firefighting gear, for example – ready and willing to put their lives on the
line for others. And all the rest of us at least have the potential to rise to
the occasion – even Tom Hanks, I suspect.
From Acculturated, 12/8/16
