Where is Our Hero?

America is the greatest story ever told, but we are missing our lead character.

Every story has the “narrative arc”. In other words, for a story to be decent let alone great it needs some basic elements of style, some structure; mainly a beginning, middle and an end. The truly great stories that have been told since the creation of the written word have had more than just a flow of events. They are saturated with conflict, opposition, struggle and most importantly resolution, triumph and victory.

But, the drama of those events hinge on the characters in the story.
A great story always has a courageous, self-less hero who sets out to defeat a heinous villain. Is there anything more compelling than a epic battle between good and evil, between annihilation and survival?

The embattled hero is the most beloved character of all time, and he can be found in every variation of storytelling from the bible to hieroglyphics in Egypt; from a elementary school history book to the Loew’s movie theater down the block. He is in comic books and the Disney movies of my youth; he is in the songs song around a campfire; in the lyrics belted out by rock bands. The hero is ever-present in the folklore of nearly every culture, and the story that is America is saturated with heroes.

Our history books are flooded with stories of bravery, courage, vision and ingenuity. The pioneers ventured to this great land at tremendous peril escaping religious persecution in Europe. They struggled and survived through the first vicious winters only to see their families flourish.



Our country was founded by a brave band of rebels; revolutionaries who stood on the battlefield facing the most powerful empire in the known world with little more than a few rifles and raggedy horses.

The curious minds of young student s are filled with images of George Washington stealthy crossing a fog-covered river escaping utter demise at the hands of the British or sitting tall upon his horse surveying the battle camp during the freezing winters; of Thomas Jefferson tirelessly working on a document by candlelight that would forever alter the destiny of mankind.

As young students, we imagine the lanky, tall Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address at a battlefield soaked with American blood.

Immigrants from all walks of life and from the four corners of the earth sacrificed all they knew to come to these shores in search of a new life. And, when opportunities dried up, they moved their families to the great prairies that stretch to the stony Rockies. The spirit of exploration thrived. Thousands of Americans entered the emptiness beyond the Mississippi; an unknown, uncharted land: the Wild West. Fear of Indian raids or the brutality of Mother Nature was not enough to weaken the American spirit of adventure. Who didn’t love the stories of law and order facing down the mayhem of corruption in Tombstone and Wyatt Earp shooting it out at the OK Corral?

One hundred brave Texans stood up to the Mexican army at the Alamo; refusing to let their country down; every last one of them perishing on the dusty courtyard of a old chapel.

Who doesn’t feel a tremendous sense of patriotism when they see video footage or photos of America’s finest young men storming the beaches of Normandy prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our country and the cause of freedom?

Neil Armstrong walking on the moon declaring that one of the last frontiers had finally been breached, just as President Kennedy said it would.

Ronald Reagan, standing before a crowd at the gates of ‘the Evil Empire”, demanding that the madness ends and that the wall that represented one of the most murderous governments be torn down.

Of course, who will ever forget the scene of the brave men and women of New York’s police and fire departments running into two towers ablaze on 9/11? And who cannot feel anything but deep admiration, love and appreciation for our troops fighting the War on Terror?

Our pop culture has always tapped into the emotions of Americans with the story of the hero. Countless movies tell of epic battles between good and evil; the power of one on the side of Right against the masses on the side of Wrong. TV shows, songs, cartoons and comic books all retell the story of our hero.

But, being a hero isn’t all that easy.

We want our heroes just, honest, and tough. We want knights of goodwill; people who will fight against evil no matter how perilous the journey, no matter how hopeless the fight, no matter what the sacrifice. We want our heroes to be the ultimate expression of who we are and what we believe in; our ideals incarnate.

People are drawn to the hero because the hero represents everything that we hope is in each one of us. Where we fall short, we want the hero to exist. The fights we are afraid to fight, we want the hero stepping in. The hero is more than a icon, a symbol. The hero is the embodiment of everything we want for ourselves and our families, he believes in the same things we do, he cherishes our ideals, he is willing to fight for the hopes and dreams of us all. He is our amplified voice; he is all we wish to be.

America is more than the sum of its borders; it is a living creature. Freedom and Liberty flows through its veins of democracy keeping its heart, the American people, pumping strong. America has always had and always needs a hero.

Americans love America and all this nation stands for. Even those of us who shy away from the word “patriotic” are patriots deep down. We cherish liberty and freedom and we always have been and we are willing to fight when the existence of those ideals are threatened. Americans are a kind and generous. We despise evil. We have a shared vision for a brighter and better tomorrow for ourselves and our families. We believe deeply in our Declaration of Independence and it eternal proclamation, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We believe in America and all it stands for. We are a proud society. Americans are not willing to settle for mediocrity or second best. We know that we are better than that. Most of us still believe that this is a greatest nation on earth and, as Ronald Reagan described: the last best hope of man on earth. And, no one can tell us differently.

Our culture, our history is filled with folklore; stories about the hero who withstood all opposition, who overcame diversity and brought deliverance to the suffrage. We are our past. We tell the stories not just to hear them, but to relive them. We teach our children history in hope that they will learn more than just dates and names. We celebrate our heroes and our nation's successes so that generations to come will internalize the American character.

We are Americans. We are proud. And we need heroes who will fight for and protect this nation and what it stands for.

We want our politicians, but more importantly ( after all, we need to be realistic), our president to be of such stock. We want a hero in the Oval Office, a guardian of American values, a protector of our hopes and dreams. If you think back to all the men who have occupied the highest office in the land, who comes to mind as great - not good, but great - presidents? Washington? Lincoln? FDR? Truman? Reagan? All the great presidents were men who were living heroes; who protected our way of life and fought to keep America the great nation that it is. Sure, there have been other good presidents,fine men. Some of you will count Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Clinton among them and others might be inclined to count John Adams and Jefferson. But, only the heroes have that mystical allure about them and their presidency; only the heroes were great.

Heroes rise to the occasion. Would Lincoln have been Lincoln without the Civil War? Would Reagan have been Reagan with the devastating presidency of Carter or the Soviet Union? Would Washington have been a nameless farmer if not for the Revolution?

Each of these men certainly lived in trying times; moments in this country’s history when hardships were swallowing the American spirit whole. There is a common saying that “the times make the man.” That is certainly true, but the man makes the hero. Tough times are an opportunity and only the hero, the man of integrity, of sound character, of upstanding morals, of vision, of guts can rise to the occasion. Did Carter rise to the occasion during the Iran hostage crisis?

America once again is facing tough times. Everyone is feeling the economic crisis. Countless Americans are losing sleep over their jobs. Our nation was the victim of another attempted terrorist attack this week. Our troops are engaged in a war that spans two countries against a faceless enemy.

We need a hero; a president who could comfort our concerns, someone we can believe when he says he is doing all he can to keep us safe. America needs a leader, a man who can rise to the occasion and carry us out of the devastation of hopelessness that surrounds us.

We need another iconic figure to deliver us from evil, to keep us safe, to ensure us that better times truly are ahead. While so many believed this was going to be Barak Obama, most of us now know what we feared to be true: he cannot and has not risen to the challenges that our country faces. He is not the embodiment of all that makes this country great. He is not a leader, merely a bureaucrat.

As 2010 is gearing up, the eyes of the nation are looking for someone who can fill our void, ease our suffering and make America truly great again. A hero has yet to emerge, and we are waiting.