
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 2, 1995                   TAG: 9503150003
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GROUP PONDERS: WHAT MAKES A HERO A HERO?

The subject was heroes. Lucy Lee, host of the January meeting of the Blue Ridge Area Thinkers, started the conversation off by reviewing the questions she had posed in her letter to members: Who are your heroes? Why? Are they less plentiful today? Who will be remembered in future history books? Who will emerge as generation X's heroes?

The group began by defining what a hero is.

``Is `role model' synonymous?'' wondered Roger Matthews of Salem, who was attending his first meeting.

Lee said she thought being a hero ``takes a great deal of courage,'' but Kurt Navratil, president of the group, noted that his childhood hero was a baseball player. Maybe, he speculated, people need different heroes at different points in their lives.

Maybe, he said, a hero is ``somebody I'd like to be like, somebody I'd like to act like.''

``I resist the idea of heroes,'' said Kathy Guest, who commutes to the meetings from Martinsville. ``I don't like to put my faith in that kind of person.''

Charlie Cottingham of Shawsville agreed. ``Are we the first century not to have heroes?'' he asked.

Deb White of Roanoke said most of the people she considers heroes come from history, such as Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks.

What they did ``was pretty heroic at the time,'' she said.

``Heroes are usually larger than life,'' said Leslie Howard of Blacksburg, ``but we don't know who they really are.''

``How many heroes have fallen from grace?'' White asked.

``Look at O.J. Simpson,'' said Dave Cissel, who lives in Roanoke. ``Nobody knew what his personal life was like.''

``They're people who stick their necks out,'' said Lisa Cottingham. Their actions don't necessarily involve physical danger, she said. ``They could lose their jobs or go against social convention.''

Navratil wondered whether isolated heroic acts make a person a hero, or if it means living a heroic life from day to day.

Some heroes, such as sports stars, ``are not really risking anything, in a sense,'' said John Jager of Martinsville. In fact, he said, they get paid for doing something many people consider heroic.

``Even the good guys on TV are going and killing each other,'' White said.

Matthews said that when he was growing up, there was no TV, and his heroes came from books and from his imagination. One of his early heroes was George Washington Carver.

White suggested that a hero might be someone who helps another person in a bad situation and ``gives them hope.''

Heroes ``don't do it alone,'' Howard observed. Sports stars certainly work with a team, and even Harriet Tubman had help.

People can be heroes ``on several different levels,'' said Carroll Smith of Shawsville.

A hero, the group agreed, has to be sincere, compassionate, selfless and not out for personal gain.

``Your heroes depend on your value system,'' said Bonnie Matthews of Salem.

by CNB