Lately, the term “hero” has been tossed around quite a bit. If you ask a child what kind of people are heroes, the answer will come easily and generically: police officers, firefighters, soldiers, etc. Why? Simply put, those people are heroes. A hero is someone who puts his or her own self-interest or safety aside and demonstrates great acts of courage. If this is the case, then why is it that, when I turn on the news, the “heroes” I hear about don’t really seem all that heroic?
The 2015 NFL Draft that took place nearly a month ago marked the one year anniversary of the first openly gay football player to ever be drafted, Michael Sam. He won the honor of Co-SEC Defensive Player of the Year after a successful season at Missouri, and his coming out went viral shortly before the draft. He was a seventh round pick but the star of the draft due to his decision to come out as gay, which violated the social norms of the sport and steered the future in a positive direction with regards to acceptance of LGBTQ athletes in sports. To top it off, President Obama called to congratulate Sam after his name was read aloud at the podium on Draft Day.
The most powerful man in the world and so many others labeled Michael Sam a hero, but what did he do to deserve that title? Sure, Sam did what some of his fellow players never would do, but what he did was not really heroic at all. He didn’t risk anything except for the possibility of bigoted criticism, which can be hurtful but not dangerous.
It honestly bothers me that, as many have noticed, when Chris Kyle, the famed American Sniper, was murdered just two short years ago, many including our president failed to not only acknowledge his bravery but also his existence. Kyle was a Navy SEAL who participated in countless dangerous missions; he had over 160 confirmed kills, many of those on targets who were of great threat to our national security. Many don’t agree with his line of work, but his courage was irrefutable. When he got back to the States, Chris even started working with other military personnel who struggled with PTSD after their tours abroad. One day at the shooting range, someone he was helping murdered him and his best friend in cold blood. Chris’s family never got a phone call.
In the past week, Bruce Jenner publicly transformed into Caitlyn Jenner, and, she too, received heroic acclaim from many, our President included. Yes, she is a shining success story for an often forgotten minority, but Caitlyn is, in no way, a hero. Being who you are in a country where you can be whoever you want should be a standard. It’s not that Sam’s and Jenner’s applaud was necessarily wrong, but rather that those who perform real acts of heroism are ignored in place of them. Sam and Jenner may be admirable but surely not heroic. When those like Chris Kyle go to work every day, they place everything on the line for people they don’t even know. They aren’t heroes for who they are but for what they’ve done. Every time you hear of a cop that is gunned down at a routine traffic stop, a firefighter that never quite makes it out of the burning building, or a soldier that dives on a grenade to save his comrades, you’ve encountered heroism.
Mark Sandefur is a junior civil engineering and public policy major from Madison, Mississippi.
