“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring
Have you ever thought of yourself as heroic? Maybe you’re thinking, “How would I know until I’m in such a situation?”
Well, we’re in that situation. Like Frodo Baggins, who finds himself at the center of a heroic crucible in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, so many people are saying, “I never thought this could happen. I never thought it would be up to us.” Yet Hollywood has been churning out films and TV shows about reluctant heroes — just like us — for almost a century.
Heroism is a central feature of most of the stories we tell ourselves. Joseph Campbell’s best-known work on world mythology is titled, Hero of a Thousand Faces. Heroism is central to most of the fairy tales and myths we read growing up. Maybe there’s a reason for that.
We’ve been watching heroic acts on large screens and small and reading about them on the printed page for most of our lives. Have we learned what it takes to be a hero? Have you ever wondered whether, at some point, heroism would be required of ordinary us?
When an “ordinary” person saves someone’s life with quick thinking and little to no regard for their own safety — they almost always say, “I don’t think of myself as a hero. Anyone would have done what I did.”
If that’s true, then we’re all heroes in waiting. Ready or not, our moment is at hand. Do we have what it takes to respond to our current cluster of crises?
My parents’ generation had what it took. They grew up in the crisis of the Great Depression. They got past that by winning World War II. That’s why they’re called, “The Greatest Generation.”
Born seven years after that crisis ended, I grew up in a culture that celebrated heroism. We believed in heroes — and in government — because they helped us get through the Depression and the war. That belief took a hit in the 1960s when the Pentagon Papers (leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, a heroic whistle-blower) proved that our government was lying to us about the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon’s counter-constitutional shenanigans were exposed by two heroic journalists (Woodward and Bernstein). And the Catholic Church’s lies about the full extent of the pedophilia scandal were exposed (by heroic victims stepping forward to testify). We stopped believing in heroes in high places, but we overlooked the heroes closer to the ground. Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
My son grew up in the age of superhero movies. Films were lousy with heroes, but they never felt real. It takes more than superpowers to be heroic in real life. It takes responding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of the twin towers in New York. Heroes are found among the grassroots, especially in times of crisis. My son is a police officer now, doing what he can.
The Civil War generation that fought to preserve the Union and end slavery was our Greatest Generation; the Depression/WWII generation is a close second. None, however, faced what we are facing: the double whammy of an authoritarian takeover of our country and a furiously escalating global eco-crisis.
Many seem stunned. Like Frodo, most wish it didn’t happen on our watch. But it did, partly because, like hobbits, we sought safe, secure sanctuaries and ignored the danger signs.
Some are born to greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them. We are the latter. You can curse the darkness, but there’s a better way to look at this. If we triumph over Trump’s assault on decency and democracy — and then save the planet — people will sing our praises for generations to come. We will be the Greatest Generation.
This is the moment we have spent our lives preparing for. We are the heroes of 75 million faces (and counting). Every hero who never thought they were heroic, now knows they had it in them. That means we do too. That’s what Gandalf, the wisest of all literary wizards, kept telling the hobbits, and it’s what Fred Rogers kept telling Daniel the Tiger (and our kids):
“There is more in you than you know.”
What does it mean to be a hero? There are so many ways, limited only by our imaginations — and courage.
Stop thinking of yourself as under assault. Think of yourself as incredibly lucky.
It is an honor and a privilege to show up in the nick of time to save the day.
We are the heroes we’ve been waiting for.
