Are We Seriously Debating the Use of the Word ‘Hero’?

I do not care about Bruce Jenner or his conversion to female. It means nothing to me. For others that have fought that fight, he/she is a "hero/heroine." 

Now, those with a very narrow definition of the word are posting memes and inundating social media with pictures of war heroes stating defiantly "THIS is a hero." Sorry, but both are correct.

If an ant had the cognitive ability to recognize that you went out of your way to not step on it, you would be a "hero" to that ant. The same goes for a dog about to be put down. When you come in and save that dog, you are a "hero" to that dog.  

If you have struggled with your gender your whole life and someone steps up and says "this is who I am, so this is who I'm going to be," then that person is a hero to you. 

A hero is defined as a person that displays courage or self-sacrifice. That is it.

Basically, what we have here is a form a shaming that happens quite often these days. Someone twists your thoughts or feelings into a place they weren't meant to go and they get some perverted pleasure making you feel bad about it. It's ignorant and shallow to say that only veterans are "heroes."  

Even if you don't like my lower level examples, there are cops, lifeguards, single moms and a million other categories of "heroes" out there.  

"Hero" is unfortunately a one-size-fits-all word. It would be great if there were better definitions or degrees to the word, but there isn't. So, instead we have "war heroes," "everyday heroes" and even "gender heroes" -- and they are all important. 

So don't let anyone shame you over the use of the word "hero." It just shows that some people have a problem with their vocabulary, not you.

P.S. All of this got me thinking of the song "Hero." It was cheesy, but I still liked it. It's good seeing Josie Scott and Tyler from Theory Of A Deadman with his Fu Manchu mustache.