Piddingworth Greg Benton
























































































































































pidd.net
'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.'
                                                                            --Mark Steyn
     WHO ARE THE HEROES?
Here's to the heroes , Those few who dare
Heading for glory , Living a prayer

Here's to the heroes , Who change our lives
Thanks to the heroes , Freedom survives

Here's to the heroes , Who never rest
They are the chosen , We are the blessed

Here's to the heroes , Who aim so high
Here's to the heroes , Who do or die

                                   From the song, 'Here's To The Heroes'

                                                 Sung by, The Ten Tenors
                                                             Music, John Barry    
                                                             Lyrics, Don Black
GET THE MUSIC!
At a recent significant fundraising activity for 'Breast Cancer'  in Toronto,
the volunteers who helped out with the organisation and administration
of the event were given special t-shirts with the word 'HERO' boldly
printed on the front. Interesting.

It was the Greeks, of course, who gave us the word from their historic
mythology. Their 'heroes', like Heracles and Ajax, were demi-gods capable
of enormous feats of strength, courage, miltary brilliance and other
virtues in the service of Zeus.

Since then, and before, the word has been applied to regular human beings
and their deeds within every culture and not always meaning the same thing.
Usually, the term refers to one who faces great danger for a high purpose.
It also is widely attributed to those who are regarded as 'models' of
virtue and morality.  There are those of fiction, like 'Hornblower of the
Royal Navy', and non-fiction, like Admiral Lord Nelson, of the real
Royal Navy.

Some, like 'Robin Hood' have a legendary quality to them with an enormous
appeal to children and the Labour Party because he 'robbed from the rich
to give to the poor'.  St. Joan d'Arc 'saved' France.
The firefighter who saves the lives of a family from a housefire,
reflects the virtue of those who risk their own lives to save human life. 

Some athletes are 'heroes' to some people.  O.J. Simpson, the American
football star, used to be hero to millions even whilst he hid in the back of a
white Ford Bronco following the murder of his former wife Nicole and her
friend Ron Goldman. He is not worshipped by many today. 
David Beckham is a hero to many as is, I suppose, his wife Posh as well; a
commixture of celebrity with athletic achievement. 

Ghandi is a hero to many people for his role in the independence of India
from Britain, although not so highly regarded in Pakistan.  His name is often
invoked by 'peace' activists because of his policy of disobedience through
non-violence. Martin Luther King, Jr. is related. 

Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States at the time of their civil war
wasn't so much of a hero before the war but after the union side won. 
He wasn't a hero to the Americans of the south..who lost. 

Winston Churchill is widely regarded as a hero of the people of the British Empire
for his leadership in the second world war.  A few decades earlier and after,
he was despised, largely over his bungling of things in the Admiralty including
the infamous battle of Jutland.  Similarly, Margaret Thatcher is a hero/heroine
to many for her accomplishments toward restoring health and wealth
to the United Kingdom.  She is almost equally despised for the same reasons
and by different people depending on whether they read the Guardian or
the Telegraph. 

Most Americans believe that Ronald Reagan was a hero for his determination
and achievement in winning the Cold War. Some deny that he did any such thing,
not because he didn't do it, but because it was him who did it.
Many Canadians still regard Pierre Trudeau a hero in spite of a dearth of evidence
of any of much virtue and more evidence to the contrary, i.e., as a villain.

Pope John Paul II is considered a hero of sorts by millions as well; not all
of them Catholic.  His popular appeal seemed to be his Polish earthiness
warmth and openness to others beyond the Church.  Of course, he also
remains despised by some  within the Church because he didn't do what they
wanted him to do, e.g., make the Catholic Church like the Anglican Church. 
The current Pope doesn't enjoy hero status not only because he refuses to be
a gay, Marxist, feminist, anarchist,and atheist, but because he's a quiet, shy and
scholarly German.  These Popes are just too Catholic!

Not all heroes can please all the people all of the time it would seem.
One of my favourite stories of the second world war and made into a film
is 'Cockleshell Heroes', the story of 10 Royal Marines who used small
'Cockle' canoes to raid German ships at a French seaport.  It was a
daring and ultimately successful operation where all but two either perished
in the icy water or were captured and shot.  It is in those scenes that
showed those who were captured that I find the greatest inspiration.
All offers from the German officer in command, of leniency to the men if
they 'revealed' information, i.e., betray their country, were treated with
contempt by these Royal Marines.  They would not give in, even if it
meant 'saving' their lives.  Right to the end, they stood courageously
toward the enemy and the firing squad.  Even as they were about to be
shot, as the bearing of one of them was in a slouch, the Marines' officer
quietly gave the order to stand to attention.  The inevitability of their
deaths before them, they faced their executioners with a defiant pride.
Whether that actually happened, or not, it certainly fits the character
of the British (and Canadian) soldier that I had come to know and learn
from childhood.  Their heroism resided, not so much in achieving their
objective in blowing up the shipping, although that certainly remains a
part of it.  They are heroes chiefly because of their virtue; the
discipline, loyalty, courage, pride, and dignity that they showed as
they were surrounded by fear and the certainty of death. 

Soldiers, our soldiers, are men and women whose duty is one of
service for a cause greater than themselves, e.g., sovereign and country.
They are heroes are they not?  It would seem that the verdict is
still out for some whose notions of heroism rest on more
self-interested criteria.  Why, for example, do those who call
our veterans of the wars 'heroes' not emulate them?  Is it
because the kind of heroism that they admire is only that
which is done by proxy on behalf of those who won't?
Is not the efficacy of heroism that it inspires people to
imitate the courage and moral example of those who
are regarded as heroes?

Not every cause is of equal worth and some causes are of limited,
even detrimental,value. The heroes of social and political 'movements'
are invariably serving the interests of their constituencies, but those interests
may not embrace the high virtue that calls on all citizens
to serve as it's 'soldiers' for good.  So often they are the self-proclaimed
heroes of revolutions and the like.  Bewared of them, for by
all accounts, most 'heroes' in the truest sense, practically deny
their heroic virtue, e.g., 'I was just doing my duty' or, 'I did what
anyone would do in the circumstances, or even, 'I did it because
of what we stand for'.  Somehow, great heroes such as Joe Stalin,
Fidel Castro and Che Guevara don't come across with such
humility; alive or dead.

As for those volunteers who give up their time and talent for
the cause of finding a cure for breast cancer, they too are,
in their own way, 'heroes and heroines' not only because
of what they give of themselves, but because of their giving.

True heroism, the universal kind, flows from a spirit that is
common to all whose character and deeds seek the highest virtue
and find a place of honour in the eyes of those who nurture that
virtue in their own lives in ways that serve that 'cause greater than
the interests of the self'.  Indeed, it could be said that it is every citizen's
duty to become a hero. 

Very little of anything resembling this spirit is to be found
in the world of entertainment or 'Hollywood'.  Most of it
can be seen either on a battlefield or even in the emergency
ward of a hospital.

Not only should we celebrate our true heroes more,
we need more heroes to celebrate.
Michael O'Leary, an Irishman from Cork (a distant cousin) who was awarded
the Victoria Cross in the Great War, illustrates the point.  As the poster shows,
this brave soldier fought with the Irish Guards...of the British Army. 
Many Irishmen did.  On the other hand, many Irishmen did not, including
other O'Learys of Co. Cork.  They were too busy fighting the British Army for independence at the same time as Michael O'Leary was fighting the Germans. 
It's a curious thing.

He is called 'An Irish Hero' but he is really an Irishman who is a British hero.

His heroism obviously is to be found within his deeds as a soldier more
than the 'cause' for which he fought; although it should also be remembered
that many Irishmen feared the possibility of a German victory more than
they hated the 'English'.  Whether he is a 'national' hero depends on where
one sits.  Any of his cousins running guns off the coast for the IRA
would likely have considered him a traitor.