Heroes

Hello dear readers!

As I write this post last night's snow is slowly melting away, disappearing little by little as the afternoon's light fades. It is a sombre sight that seems strangely fitting at the end of a week that has seen not one, but two unexpected deaths.

 I am, of course, talking about the untimely passing of David Bowie which was quickly followed by that of Alan Rickman. Both of these tragic events seem to have touched upon the lives of a huge amount of people and social media has been swamped with memories of the work, lives, and character of both men for the last few days. All of which has led me to reflect.


We all have our heroes, people that we look up to, that we admire. Celebrity seems to magnify this in a way. It makes it far easier to idolize someone without having to examine their small every day flaws. I'm not talking about the kinds of things that get mentioned in the tabloids, but those little things that make one aware that a certain person, although amazing in so many ways, is capable of the humdrum imperfections we all carry with us. Celebrity or not however, we all find people that we can hold up as shining examples of the way we would, in part,  like to be and as there is a tendency to form such connections relatively early in our lives (in the most part anyway) unfortunately a lot of the time we will outlive our heroes.

My, what a gloomy thought!

Is it though? I mean, no-one lives forever, and although cancer has brought the lives of the two aforementioned people to an end far too soon I think some solace can be sought in the idea that there will be a part of them that will live on. Their talent will always be with us, their politics, ideals, and beliefs will, I'm sure, be laid bare in the coming weeks to serve as inspiration to at least some, and their identity and individuality will plant seeds in many minds. To quote Sir Terry Pratchett (a hero of my own) in Pyramids "Do you not know a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"

Maybe that's the point. I don't think anyone sets out to be a hero but if by leading a certain example their name lives on then a kind of immortality is indeed gained. My own heroes are pretty much all gone. Leanardo Da Vinci, Dame Agatha Christie, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Sir Terry, Alan Turing, Billy Bremner; all are sadly departed but all still influence my thoughts, hopes, and dreams in countess different ways. Carl Shutt to the best of my knowledge is still with us though (thankfully).

You may have noticed a lack of disabled people in that list by the way. You might possibly be justified in expecting a Dame Tammi Grey Thomson, Stephen Hawking, or Christy Brown to make the list and whilst I do admire the achievements of all of those people I think my own disability actually causes me to disregard them in some strange way. Don't get me wrong, they are all immensely iconic figures but part of me thinks that although they may have overcome major disadvantages in their lives, so have so many, many other people. I don't want to downplay what these people have accomplished, not for one second, but for some reason, taking those disadvantages to one side, those accomplishments don't speak to me in that ineffable way.

And therein lies a quandary. I think all of us would like to be remembered in some small way after we shuffle off this mortal coil, for our legacy to serve as an example to the next generation, however slight that may be. We'd all like to be heroes to our children. The difficulty is knowing what will serve as that example, what will strike that chord, and really it's out of our hands. It is for others to assess us, and no matter how kind, generous, honest, or what-have-you we are it still might not be enough to inspire those to come. Perhaps all that any of us can do is just to be true to our values and hopes and live a good life. Given a bit of luck that will be enough and as Mr Bowie once said... We can be heroes.

Until next time.