There are no heroes, only survivors

In Beyond Thunderdome, Tina Turner bellowed, “We don’t need another hero, we just need to know the way home…” Just such truth right there!

This truth was echoed recently when Amanda N, who said this:

“God have mercy.
There are no heroes.
Except for the survivors.”

Since the #MeToo movement began only a few years ago, a litany of public corpses—heroes of millions and of milieus—have been rolled out from the red carpet and onto the street to be savaged for their sins. People from Harvey Weinstein to Bill Hybels to Kevin Spacey to [now] Martin Luther King. We’re coming to time when there will be no more trust left for the ‘champion’ in a public space; notwithstanding the brilliance of their performances or rhetoric. There will only be trust reserved for the genuinely servant hearted as it should be.

Of course, the fantasy that plays out in society is representative of this great truth: there are no heroes, only survivors, and indeed the survivor is the only trustworthy hero.

When redemption is woven into the very fabric of society’s psyche, we readily see, no matter who we are, that the ones who deserve our honour and our praise are those who have paid the price, who have sacrificed, who have suffered, and who have won their way through.

These are the heroes. Not somebody who has all the right rhetoric, but the person who has silently gone about their business, and have endured their hard and hurried life.

And please don’t ever hail me or anyone else who speaks the truth a hero. I and we are all such fallen creatures. Just because we create with words or pictures or have certain gifts is no credit to any of us.

There’s such a fine line
between loyalty, admiration and respect,
and the reverence and awe
we should save for God alone.

Let’s not nudge that line.

Think about your heroes. Who are they? Sports heroes. Heroes of the faith. Movie stars. Pulpit heroes. Singers and songwriters. Great authors.  TED speakers. Do you know categorically that they’re worth the weight of esteem you give them? How can we really know?

A good way of checking this would be to imagine anyone you adore being revealed as the sinner they are. Do we elevate anyone above their rightful standing? We do all the time. People can only disappoint us if we hold them above where they should be.

This is why I thank God for the #MeToo and #ChurchToo era. Any and all of us only need to be a little introspective; think about what God knows about us; the deeper thoughts that are unbecoming, the quietly lustful,  covertly greedy, hideously prideful yearnings, the secret acts we’ve all engaged in.

There are parts of us all that we’d never want broadcast over the front page of a national or even local paper, even if we aren’t a Weinstein or a Cosby or a Rolf Harris.

Let me do just one for-instance. I would never rape any woman (or man) but have I had inappropriate sexual thoughts? Yes, of course I have! Lust is just one such example. Doing a Step 4 rigorous moral inventory as part of the Twelve Step Program 15 years ago highlighted to me just how immoral I can be—I see it when I’m honest.

Fortunately these days I have Spirit-led-and-empowered strategies (provided I continue to nurture honesty), and a modicum of moral wisdom that helps me acknowledge my limited capacity, that hold me a little further from temptation. But the temptations never vanish.

The point is this: the true hero is the one who has suffered without fault or cause—the survivor of trauma! Having been a reviewer of an Australian version of the Bible recently, in reviewing Galatians through Hebrews, Paul states this numerous times; blessed is the one who suffers persecution amicably without causing others to stumble.

That’s the real hero; someone who’s suffered yet hasn’t caused others to suffer. The suffering stopped with them. And perhaps we can extend our admiration to those who, like this, have suffered, but have also committed their lives to the practice of advocacy so that others don’t suffer what they themselves suffered. That the cycle of trauma ends with them as far as it depends on them.

It reminds me of the only person who ever did that to perfection: Jesus.

Here’s a fact: the more we live fully focused on the Lord, the less our admiration of others gets out of hand.

~

There are no heroes
other than those
who have survived suffering
and haven’t used their suffering
as a means of making others suffer.

~

Just one final word. You probably know this already, but sometimes, and indeed often, the most skilled, the most gifted, the most charismatic of people, are the least trustworthy, for they have learned that they’re self-sufficient. Those who don’t need God can be most dangerous of all.

Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash