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An Empty Regard

By William Deresiewicz

• Aug. 20, 2011

William Deresiewicz is an essayist and critic, and the author of “Solitude and Leadership,” an address delivered at West Point in 2009 and widely taught in the armed forces.

NO symbol is more sacred in American life right now than the military uniform. The cross is divisive; the flag has been put to partisan struggle. But the uniform commands nearly automatic and universal reverence. In Congress as on television, generals are treated with awed respect, service members spoken of as if they were saints. Liberals are especially careful to make the right noises: obeisance to the uniform having become the shibboleth of patriotism, as anti-Communism used to be. Across the political spectrum, throughout the media, in private and public life, the pieties and ritual declarations are second nature now: “warriors,” “heroes,” “mission”; “our young men and women in uniform,” “our brave young men and women,” “our finest young people.” So common has this kind of language become, we scarcely notice it anymore.

There is no question that our troops are courageous and selfless. They expose themselves to inconceivable dangers under conditions of enormous hardship and fight because they want to keep the country safe. We owe them respect and gratitude — even if we think the wars they’re asked to fight are often wrong. But who our service members are and the work their images do in our public psyche, our public discourse, and our public policy are not the same. Pieties are ways to settle arguments before they begin. We need to question them, to see what they’re hiding.

The new cult of the uniform began with the call to “support our troops” during the Iraq war. The slogan played on a justified collective desire to avoid repeating the mistake of the Vietnam era, when hatred of the conflict spilled over into hostility toward the people who were fighting it. Now the logic was inverted: supporting the troops, we were given to understand, meant that you had to support the war. In fact, that’s all it seemed to mean. The ploy was a bait and switch, an act of emotional blackmail. If you opposed the war or questioned the way it was conducted, you undermined our troops.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dragged on, other purposes have come into play. The greater the sacrifice that has fallen on one small group of people, the members of the military and their families, the more we have gone from supporting our troops to putting them on a pedestal. In the Second World War, everybody fought. Soldiers were not remote figures to most of us; they were us. Now, instead of sharing the burden, we sentimentalize it. It’s a lot easier to idealize the people who are fighting than it is to send your kid to join them. This is also a form of service, I suppose: lip service.

The cult of the uniform also bespeaks a wounded empire’s need to reassert its masculinity in the wake of 9/11. “Dead or alive,” “bring it on,” “either you’re with us or you’re against us”: the tenor of official rhetoric in the ensuing years embodied a kind of desperate machismo. The war in Iraq, that catharsis of violence, expressed the same emotional dynamic. We’d been hit in the head with a rock; like a neighborhood bully, we grabbed the first person we could get our hands on and beat him senseless. Mission accomplished: we were strong again, or so we imagined, and the uniform — as George W. Bush understood when he swaggered across the deck of the Abraham Lincoln in a flight suit — was the symbol of that strength. The soldier is the way we want to see ourselves: stoic, powerful, focused, devoted.

This helps explain why the souring of the wars failed to tarnish the military’s reputation. There seems little doubt that our armed forces today are more professional, and at the small-unit level, at least, more effective, than they were in Vietnam. Still, Iraq descended into stalemate, and Afghanistan gives little hope, 10 years on, of ever being anything else. Does the fault lie with our civilian leadership alone, or with our client states? Do “our brave young men and women fulfill every mission we ask them to,” as the catechism goes? These are not rhetorical questions; these are the real questions that we haven’t been willing to ask ourselves. At the very least, our generals ought surely to come in for some criticism — as they did, when it was appropriate, in other wars. And yet the cult of the uniform has immunized them from blame, and inoculates the rest of us from thought.

There are other questions. Has the military really ceased to be the big, bumbling bureaucracy it was always taken to be? And if it is supremely efficient now, is that because there’s something uniquely effective about its command structure and values — a frequent implication these days — or rather because we’ve given it a blank check? Is America the world’s cop, as we like to say, or is our military something more like an imperial police force? (When it comes to places like Darfur or Ivory Coast, which are not felt to threaten national security interests, we leave the dirty work to someone else.)

It seems extremely unlikely anything like My Lai has taken place in Iraq or Afghanistan, but there have been some terrible crimes: the abuses at Abu Ghraib; the premeditated gang rape of a 14-year-old girl in Mahmudiya, Iraq, and the murder of her family; the executions of Afghan civilians by the self-described “kill team” from the 5th Stryker Brigade. Only the first has been widely discussed, likely because there were pictures. How many more of these have there been? Maybe none, maybe a significant number: until we ask — until we want to ask — we’ll never know.

As the national narrative shifts from the war on terror to the specter of decline, the uniform performs another psychic function. The military is can-do, the one institution — certainly the one public institution — that still appears to work. The schools, the highways, the post office; Amtrak, FEMA, NASA and the T.S.A. — not to mention the banks, the newspapers, the health care system, and above all, Congress: nothing seems to function anymore, except the armed forces. They’re like our national football team — and undisputed champs, to boot — the one remaining sign of American greatness.

The term most characteristically employed, when the cult of the uniform is celebrated, is “heroes.” Perhaps no word in public life of late has been more thoroughly debased by overuse. Soldiers are “heroes”; firefighters are “heroes”; police officers are “heroes” — all of them, not the special few who undoubtedly deserve the term. So unthinking has the platitude become that someone referred to national park rangers on public radio recently as “heroes” — reflexively, in passing — presumably since they wear uniforms, as well. Stephen Colbert picked up on this phenomenon long ago, which is why he slyly refers to his viewers — and now, to the donors to his Super PAC — by the same term.

“HEROES,” like “support our troops,” was also deployed early, in Iraq. Within a couple of weeks, we were treated to the manufactured heroism of Jessica D. Lynch, the young supply clerk who was rescued from an Iraqi hospital a few days after her capture by enemy forces (both events turning out to be far less cinematic than initially put out) and who finally felt compelled to speak out against her own use as an instrument of propaganda. In the case of Pat Tillman , the former professional football player who died the following year in Afghanistan by friendly fire, not in an ambush as originally claimed, it was left to his family to expose the lies with which the Army surrounded him. The irony is that our soldiers are the last people who are likely to call themselves heroes and are apparently very uncomfortable with this kind of talk. The military understands itself as a group endeavor. As the West Point professor Elizabeth D. Samet recently noted, service members feel uneasy when strangers approach them to — as the well-meaning but oddly impersonal ritual goes — thank them for their service, thereby turning them into paradoxically anonymous celebrities. It was wrong to demonize our service members in Vietnam; to canonize them now is wrong as well. Both distortions make us forget that what they are are human beings.

What is heroism? What kind of psychological purpose does the concept serve? Heroism is bravery and selflessness, but more than that, it is triumphant action, and in particular, morally unambiguous action. In most of life — and certainly in public life — there is scarcely such a thing on either count. Politics is a muddle of moral and practical compromise. Victories are almost always partial, ambiguous and subject to reversal. Heroism belongs to the realm of fantasy — the comic book, the action movie — or to delimited and often artificial spheres of action, like space exploration or sports.

The Marine who saves his buddies in a firefight, the cop who rescues a child from a well — the challenges they face are clear and simple and isolated from the human mess. Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III , the pilot who successfully landed an airliner in the Hudson River, was, everyone agreed, a hero. But note how frequently the element of salvation or rescue comes up when we talk about heroism. It was a beautiful coincidence that Captain Sullenberger’s moment came just five days before the last presidential inauguration, for heroism and rescue were the subtext of Barack Obama’s campaign, especially for his legions of young believers. He was the one we’d been waiting for; you could almost imagine the “S” on his chest, underneath the suit. (Once in office, of course, he descended into the muddle, and showed himself a mortal after all.) Heroes are daddies: larger-than-life figures, unimpeachably powerful and good, who save us from evil and hurt.

“America needs heroes,” it is sometimes said, a phrase that’s often uttered in a wistful tone, almost cooingly, as if we were talking about a lonely child. But do we really “need heroes”? We need leaders, who marshal us to the muddle. We need role models, who show us how to deal with it. But what we really need are citizens, who refuse to infantilize themselves with talk of heroes and put their shoulders to the public wheel instead. The political scientist Jonathan Weiler sees the cult of the uniform as a kind of citizenship-by-proxy. Soldiers and cops and firefighters, he argues, embody a notion of public service to which the rest of us are now no more than spectators. What we really need, in other words, is a swift kick in the pants.

A picture with an earlier version of this article was posted in error.   It showed a uniform with mismatched military insignia, rank and badges. The current image is the one that was published in print editions on Sunday .

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Honoring Our Heroes: Inspiring Quotes to Remember Fallen Soldiers

Introduction

As you read this article, prepare to be moved by the profound words that pay tribute to the brave men and women who sacrificed for our freedom. Their unwavering courage and selfless acts have etched indelible marks in history, reminding us of the true essence of heroism.

These quotes serve as a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers, and they inspire us to honor their memories with reverence and gratitude. Through the power of language, we can connect with the depth of their experiences, the weight of their sacrifices, and the enduring impact they have left on our lives.

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So, let us embark on this emotional odyssey, where the words of great minds and hearts will resonate within us, igniting a renewed sense of appreciation for those who have given their all in service of our nation.

The Significance of Honoring Fallen Soldiers

Honoring fallen soldiers is not merely a gesture of respect. It is a sacred duty that transcends time and borders. These valiant individuals have laid down their lives to protect our freedoms, uphold our values, and preserve the very fabric of our society. Their sacrifices have paved the way for future generations, ensuring that the principles of liberty and justice prevail.

By paying tribute to these heroes, we acknowledge the depth of their courage, the strength of their convictions, and the immeasurable impact they have had on our collective well-being. It is a testament to our shared humanity, a recognition that their lives were not lost in vain, and a promise to carry forward the torch of their legacy.

Moreover, honoring fallen soldiers is a powerful act of solidarity, reminding us that we stand united in our gratitude and reverence for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. It is a way to ensure that their stories are never forgotten, their valor is forever enshrined, and their memories continue to inspire generations to come.

Quotes About War and Sacrifice

“The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.” – Thomas Campbell

This poetic quote encapsulates the profound truth that freedom is not granted; it is earned through the sacrifices of those willing to lay down their lives for its preservation. The blood shed by patriots nourishes the roots of liberty, ensuring it continues to flourish for generations to come.

“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” – Horace

Translating to “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country,” this Latin phrase captures the noble sentiment of embracing the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good of one’s nation. It resonates with the unwavering dedication and selflessness exhibited by fallen soldiers.

“The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.” – Minot J. Savage

This quote reminds us that the bravery and valor of fallen soldiers live on, inspiring countless others to embrace their courage and uphold the ideals they fought for. Their sacrifices become a beacon of strength, guiding us through even the darkest of times.

Inspiring Quotes from Literature

“The life of man is a journey; a winding trek through the foothills of frailty and bodies broken by fear and pain. But those who walk bravely, through the hail of their enemies, those are the ones who achieve the ultimate freedom.” – R.A. Salvatore

This literary quote vividly describes the human experience, with its trials and tribulations. However, it extols the bravery of those who face adversity head-on, highlighting the ultimate freedom that comes from unwavering courage—a trait embodied by fallen soldiers.

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” – C.S. Lewis

Through this profound statement, C.S. Lewis reminds us that courage is not merely a virtue. When put to the ultimate test, it is the very essence of all virtues. Fallen soldiers exemplified this truth, exhibiting unwavering courage in the face of unimaginable adversity, thus embodying the highest form of every virtue.

“The dead soldier’s silence sings our national anthem.” – Aaron Kilbourn

This poetic quote encapsulates the profound impact of fallen soldiers’ sacrifices on our national identity. Their silence, a testament to their ultimate sacrifice, resonates as a powerful anthem, reminding us of the values and freedoms they fought to protect.

Quotes That Bring Hope and Resilience

“The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.” – Benjamin Disraeli

This quote reminds us that the true legacy of heroes lies not only in the memories we cherish but also in the inspiring examples they have set for us to follow. Fallen soldiers have left an indelible mark on our collective consciousness, inspiring us to emulate their courage, resilience, and unwavering commitment to justice.

“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.” – Terry Pratchett

Through these thought-provoking words, Terry Pratchett reminds us that the impact of fallen soldiers extends far beyond their physical presence. Their actions have set in motion ripples that continue to shape our world, ensuring their sacrifices resonate through generations.

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” – Thucydides

This quote from the ancient Greek historian Thucydides honors the bravery of those who knowingly embrace both the glory and the danger that lies ahead. It speaks to the unwavering courage of fallen soldiers, who faced the ultimate peril with a clear understanding of the risks, yet chose to meet their fate with unwavering resolve.

Memorial Quotes to Remember Fallen Soldiers

“They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.” – Henry Ward Beecher

This powerful quote portrays fallen soldiers as a celestial presence, ever-watchful over our nation, serving as a constant reminder of the sacrifices made to preserve our freedoms. Their memory hovers like a cloud of witnesses, inspiring us to honor their legacy.

“On thy grave, the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation.” – Thomas Moore

Through this poetic quote, Thomas Moore captures the profound grief and reverence an nation feels for its fallen heroes. The rain that falls upon their graves is a symbolic representation of the tears shed by a grateful and sorrowful people, honoring the ultimate sacrifice made by these brave souls.

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” – John F. Kennedy

In this profound statement, President John F. Kennedy reminds us that the true character of a nation is reflected not only in the heroes it produces but also in the reverence and remembrance it bestows upon them. By honoring and remembering fallen soldiers, we reveal the depth of our gratitude and the strength of our collective spirit.

Books That Explore the Theme of Honoring Heroes

• This powerful novel delves into the experiences of American soldiers during the Vietnam War, exploring the physical and emotional burdens they carried, as well as the lasting impact of their sacrifices.
• The remarkable story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner turned World War II aviator, who survived a plane crash, spent 47 days adrift in the Pacific, and endured years of brutal captivity as a prisoner of war.
• A classic novel that follows the journey of a young soldier during the American Civil War, exploring themes of courage, cowardice, and the harsh realities of battle.
• This ancient Greek epic poem chronicles the events of the Trojan War, paying homage to the heroic deeds and sacrifices of warriors on both sides of the conflict.
• A satirical novel that explores the absurdities of war and the bureaucratic institutions that govern it, while also highlighting the bravery and resilience of those caught in its midst.

Ways to Pay Tribute to Fallen Soldiers

• Participate in local or national events that honor fallen soldiers, such as Memorial Day or Veterans Day ceremonies, parades, or wreath-laying ceremonies at monuments and memorials.
• Pay your respects by visiting military cemeteries, war memorials, or monuments dedicated to fallen soldiers, leaving flowers, flags, or personal tributes.
• Contribute to organizations that provide support, resources, and assistance to veterans, their families, and the families of fallen soldiers.
• Share the stories and sacrifices of fallen soldiers with younger generations, ensuring that their legacy is passed on and their valor is never forgotten.
• Display the American flag at your home or workplace, especially on designated memorial days, as a symbol of respect and gratitude for those who have sacrificed for our freedom.

As we reflect on the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers, let us honor their memory by supporting organizations that provide aid and assistance to veterans and their families. One such organization is the Wounded Warrior Project , which offers a range of programs and services designed to empower and support injured veterans and their loved ones. By donating or volunteering with organizations like this, you can make a tangible difference in the lives of those who have sacrificed so much for our nation. Together, we can ensure that the legacy of our fallen heroes lives on, and their sacrifices are never forgotten.

Organizations supporting veterans and their families

• Provides free programs and services to veterans and service members who incurred physical or mental injuries, illnesses, or wounds while serving in the military on or after September 11, 2001.
• Dedicated to empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity, offering a wide range of support services and resources.
• Offers compassionate care and comprehensive support services to families grieving the loss of a loved one who served in the Armed Forces.
• Advocates for veterans’ rights and benefits, provides assistance and support services, and promotes patriotism and community service.
• Connects, unites, and empowers post-9/11 veterans and their families through programs and resources focused on mental health, employment, education, and civic engagement.

What’s Next: Words About Fallen Soldiers

As we conclude our journey through these inspiring quotes and tributes, let us carry a renewed gratitude and reverence for the fallen soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their courage, valor, and unwavering commitment to protecting our freedoms have woven an indelible tapestry of heroism that will forever inspire future generations.

Remember, honoring our fallen heroes is not merely a ceremonial act. It is a sacred duty that transcends time and borders. It is a testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, some willingly step forward to defend the ideals we hold dear.

Esther Lombardi

Esther A. Lombardi is a freelance writer and journalist with more than two decades of experience writing for an array of publications, online and offline. She also has a master's degree in English Literature with a background in Web Technology and Journalism. 

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On reverence: essay — richard farrell.

Rather than words comes the thought of high windows: The sun-comprehending glass, And beyond it, the deep air, that shows Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless —Philip Larkin, from “High Windows”

It seems to me that reverence, as something intrinsic to an individual’s sense of meaning, as a principle of human communities, has been on the decline, if not under downright assault, in the culture at large. I’m not arguing that there’s a scarcity of people leading reverential lives. From monks to poets, from special-education teachers to astronauts, we live amongst many still capable of being awestruck. Nor is the raw material which inspires reverence eroding, like polar ice caps and old-growth forests, under pressure for mankind’s increased footprint. Just a mile from my front door, a traffic jam occurs each night as hundreds of people crowd along the cliffs to watch the sun drop into the Pacific.

When I was young, I would wake early and head off to serve as an altar boy for the weekday, sunrise mass. The same rag-tag band of true believers filed into the pews at 6:30 every morning. Something about being tired, a whiff of candles, incantations, and carefully articulated rituals always mesmerized me. I’ve yet to encounter a more consistently sacred sight in my life than dawn breaking through the stained-glass windows at Christ the King Church. At twelve, I gave serious consideration to the seminary, and heretically repeated the priest’s gestures in my living room, with Ritz crackers for the body and grape soda for the blood. But I had no calling from God. In time, the rituals themselves lost meaning.

Looking back, it’s hardly surprising that I chose to go to college at the Naval Academy, an institution awash in rituals and codes. Anyone who’s ever witnessed a sunset dress parade along the Severn River—four-thousand midshipmen marching in lock step, bayonets and belt buckles polished, blue and gold spinnakers billowing on the river—and not felt something akin to awe, surely has lost the ability to be stirred by great pageantry. By the time I was 18, I’d traded in the vestments of the altar for the vestments of war but marveled no less at the lore and history of it all, the flag lowered at sunset, the distant bugle call of taps.

During my sophomore year at Annapolis, a plebe committed suicide by stepping out of his fifth-floor window. The young man had wanted to quit the Academy, but was encouraged to stay by well-meaning parents and company officers. I watched as paramedics attempted to resuscitate the broken and bloodied midshipman, his once-pristine, navy-blue uniform suddenly a torn and grisly mess. Later, as fireman sprayed his blood from the brick walkway, I felt a desperate emptiness about the institution I’d committed to. The shame of quitting was certainly not worth that young man’s life.

“Reverence is an ancient virtue,” Paul Woodruff writes in Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue . Woodruff, a humanities professor, approaches the subject of reverence with a philosophical lens. Handed down from early cultures, across a variety of religious and secular systems, reverence has less to do with mystery and mysticism and more to do with shaping individuals and societies who can recognize the limitations of what humans can (or should) control. Reverence, according to Woodruff, begins in a capacity for awe and wonder for the world around us. This capacity for awe leads to a deepening respect for fellow human travelers. “This in turns fosters the ability to be ashamed when we show moral flows exceeding the normal human allotment.”  Shame arises, in part, when humans fail to remember that each person, whether prince or pauper, is dwarfed by the sheer grandness of existence.

Reverence, Woodruff also argues, is on the decline in contemporary culture.

My children have recently begun their summer vacation and the moments in my day which might let in a little reverence have been few and far between. It’s hard to experience awe amidst battles over television remotes, pop-radio stations and who gets to play on the iPad. At times, it seems that the experience of reverence demands things in short supply these days: silence, stillness, time to think. And in most of my daily life, the once sacred rituals have either lapsed into quaint memory or feel contrived. Perhaps I’ve convinced myself that I’ve outgrown them, like acolyte robes and military uniforms. Perhaps the only solution is to get away from it all for a while.

So at the end of June, I leave California for Massachusetts with my kids—Maggie, almost 12, and Tom, who’ll be 8 in a few weeks. These are transitional times as a parent. Maybe all time and ages are transitional, but these years in particular feel downright seismic. Less and less snuggling, more and more driving, from horse lessons to baseball practice to sleepovers on the other side of town. Because I’ve taken Maggie and Tom to see their grandparents in Massachusetts most summers since they were born, these trips retain something of a ritual in our family. The grandchildren, welcomed as mini-deities, are worshiped with burnt offerings of Cheetos, ice cream bars and endless hours of over-indulgence.

Children make for wonderful case studies of reverence. Anyone who’s ever spent ten minutes waiting for a child to stop staring in wide-eyed wonder at a green caterpillar on a leaf knows that a child’s capacity for awe is without peer. And anyone who’s ever chastened that same child for being distracted certainly knows how deeply a child feels shame. Respect, awe, shame—a child’s life is awash in reverential moments. What child does not, as Annie Dillard says, live in all they seek? If only they could articulate their experience. Because what a child lacks, it seems, is the eloquence to communicate that experience. This comes with maturity, with reading the great books, studying the big ideas, sharing in the human conversation.

This point is driven home most clearly by one of my son’s friends in Massachusetts. John, 6, suffers from significant autism. What might well be a deep, if scattered, concentration and intelligence (John knows all the world’s countries and their capitals, knows all the elements of the periodic table and hears and repeats verbatim anything you say) crashes around him when he encounters other people. While John twirls around on the beach, gathering shells with a naturalist’s curiosity, he also seizes up, clenching his hands into tight fists and his face into a grimace, when given basic commands by an adult. He remains isolated in a room of children, able to make only the slightest contact. The simple, if cruel, reality is that John doesn’t fit into the world as typically constructed. It’s like he hears the music playing in the background but can’t find the rhythm.

And yet it’s hard not to wonder and marvel at his freedom, the absolute and unadulterated pleasure he finds in a vibrating restaurant pager or the garden hose at my mother’s house. For John, it’s as if all the moments in his world were reverent ones, but they remain utterly trapped inside, un-spoken, only thinly connected with those around him, and thus those moments verge on being lost to meaning.

“We live in all we seek,” Annie Dillard writes. “The hidden shows up in too-plain sight. It lives captive on the face of the obvious – the people, events, and things of the day – to which we as sophisticated children have long since become oblivious. What a hideout: Holiness lies spread and borne over the surface of time and stuff like color.”

Dillard reminds us that the sacred surrounds everything, waiting only to be noticed. And intellectually, this makes perfect sense, though it’s another thing entirely to live this way, to actively overcome the obliviousness of daily pursuits, all those small tasks that take up so much time and energy. Reverence, for the most part, always feels set apart, reserved for mountaintops, cathedrals and forest trails. The trick of recognizing the numinous in the mundane, seeing the sacred patterns—the color, as Dillard calls it—in the landscape we walk everyday, seems elusive, frustrating at times, the stuff of dreams.

What Dillard seems to be arguing, and Woodruff no less, is that reverence involves a choice. “We have not lost our capacity for reverence,” Woodruff writes. “The capacity for virtue belongs to all of us as human beings. What we are losing is a language of behavior—a self-conscious sort of ceremony—that best expresses reverence in daily life.” But how to learn that language?  Harder still, how to remain fluent in it? In my youth, the rituals of the church or the military helped shape those choices for me, or perhaps they co-opted them, no matter. The priest used the mass to dramatize the crucifixion. What stood behind the dress parade were not just shiny shoes and individuals submitting to the larger unit, but also history, the great battles of the past, the fallen, the horror of war, camaraderie, sacrifice, virtues, regardless of how tenuously political these things may have been. Those rituals always pointed the way for me, like an illuminated highway sign on a dark and lonely road. The destination, the actual feelings of profound mystery and awe, must remain just out of reach, ineffable and abstract. But the road signs reassure, keep us moving on what appears to be a path, however dimly lit and confusing. The stylized and polished constructs become containers for the missing virtue (courage, honor, integrity, deity), for those things that can be felt but not grasped. And in this, the rituals themselves become imbued with meaning and importance.

But most of the rituals are gone now, at least for a large portion of people I know, myself included. Routine has taken over, and routine and ritual are very different creatures. Routine shares none of the symbolism, none of the communal aspects of ritual. Taken to an extreme, routines can become neurotic prisons of obsessive rigidity, closed off from the world at large. Whereas rituals, even the most esoteric and sealed, exist within part of the larger human society.

In the town center of Holden, Massachusetts, just a short walk from my mother’s front door, there is pre-Civil War cemetery. Holden is the quintessential New England town, with flags fluttering, white church spires and sun-dappled maple trees. The granite, moss-mottled headstones, tilting in all directions like teeth in need of braces, want to tell a story, if only I could listen. Many of the markers contain poems chiseled into the face, and many of the graves are for young children. In the cemetery, I think about Robert Bly’s introduction to William Stafford’s poems, in which Bly talks about the golden thread. “I asked Stafford one day, ‘Do you believe that every golden thread will lead us to Jerusalem’s wall, or do you love particular threads?’ He replied, ‘No, every thread.’ He said, ‘Any little impulse is accepted, and enhanced.”

The golden thread is, of course, a form of reverence. The transformation of the objective experience into a poem, into the holiness of Jerusalem’s wall, is precisely what my son’s friend, John, lacks. For children like John, and for many others too, the golden thread is only a piece of string.

Dillard and Bly arrive at similar conclusions. Any little impulse can lead to the sublime. Every detail can become a golden thread, garden hoses, church spires, and headstones. The sacred is all around us. Why travel across the country to look for it? We hear this message again and again, but how to trust it? How to experience it as a real part of the day-to-day?

Instead, we seem perpetually distracted. We cash in on our humanity, and turn our backs to the sacred moments with such a blithe indifference that at times it feels as if life were one giant video game. I indict myself in all of this. As often as not, I am oblivious to awe, wandering around in an over-saturated haze of consumerist fervor, kinetic schedules and endless detachment. How to plug-in to reverence?

It seems easy to do here, in this old cemetery, where the light and the silence are vibrating with possibilities, with a type of sacred energy, with history and stories and the march of time. But reverence depends less on circumstance and more on how we transform what’s offered.

I arrive, at last, not at a conclusion, but perhaps at a bit of understanding. For the more I consider it, the more reverence begins to seem like a type of triangulation. There is, on the first level, the phenomenon itself. The sunset. The caterpillar. The ritual of the mass. The dress parade. The suicide. These things exist independently, whether observed or not, whether intended or attended. If a tree falls in a forest , as Bruce Cockburn and a thousand Zen monks sing, does anyone hear ? The event is indifferent to our attention. Barry Lopez can describe the thousand-mile migrations of polar bears with such detailed elegance that I can imagine the journey happening before my eyes, but the bear remains utterly ambivalent about who’s watching.

Enter the observer. The poet, the prophet, the biologist sailing on a brig sloop between the Galapagos, the astronaut hurtling through the heavens. Humankind bears witness as much as anything else we do. As Dillard points out, we uncover what lives captive on the face of the obvious. The witness shuttles forth into the unknown and comes home with a tale to tell, whether that tale is On the Origin of Species , Arctic Dreams , the Upanishads or worn letters carved into the face of granite headstone.

It’s not that Neil Armstrong’s experience of stepping onto the lunar surface was any less personally reverent for him, with or without the world watching on television. But, as Armstrong’s own words remind us, in order for that one small step to live beyond itself, for the unity of experience to become that giant leap for mankind, it needed to be shared. Thus the third side of the triangle, the reception, the acknowledged and expressed substance of what it all might mean.

I am certain that John experiences reverence in his life; I’m certain that in every tactile roll in the grass, in every confusing (to us) choice he makes, John ingests the sensory world with a ravenous hunger and perfect pitch. But the circuit is shorted somehow, and no signal passes from his interior experience to others. This seems the great tragedy of autism. Also the great tragedy of tyranny, suicide, repression, violence and the apathy of tuning out. When we lose the ability to form the connection, the world suffers.

The poem needs the poet, but the poet needs the reader. In this triangular symmetry, the three sides form the whole.

Reverence lives somewhere inside this sacred geometry, somewhere between my ability to be stirred by something greater than myself, my ability to articulate that experience, and my willingness to hear that message when its shared with me. For in the end, aren’t we working out the mystery on our own? Aren’t we all lonely fishermen, perpetually taking in the world through a small hole each of us carves in the ice? And when we get a nibble, or when we get too cold to continue, or when we just get too damn lonely to go it alone any longer, don’t we all yearn to share that experience with others?

And where better to find the sacred than in the sky above and the earth below. “Reverence at home is so familiar to us,” Woodruff writes, “that we are hardly aware that this is what it is, and we may have to visit homes of a different culture before we recognize the places where family pictures hang, or where a grandmother’s unused teacups gather dust, are shrines.”

Somewhere between California and Massachusetts are those shrines. Somewhere between Annie Dillard, William Stafford and an autistic boy trying to make sense of a confusing world, lies reverence. In the epigraph to Dillard’s For the Time Being , she quotes Evan S. Connell, who asks, “Should I mark more than shining hours?” The ambition, if not the answer, as best as I can figure it, is, yes. Mark all the hours as sacred. Many more of them are actually shining than I’ll ever recognize.

“Reverence is all around us,” Woodruff writes, “so there are plenty of starting points.”

And so Maggie, Tom and I come home to California, to the long and restless routines of summer. They hug their mother and rub their dog’s belly and quickly re-acclimate to home. It so happens that we return on the 4 th  of July. Fireworks fresco the cloudy sky, booming explosions echoing around us like cannon fire. The dog cowers. The kids ooh and ah. These days, perhaps, will not always feel as sacred as I might wish. Many of the hours that follow will glide past without meaning or context. I’ll wake up, play with my kids, read a little. I’ll clean the house and get dinner ready for my wife. There will be quiet hours, busy days, whole weeks that will blend from one into the next, with little to mark them as shining, except, of course, by their very accumulation, by their unfolding. The only meaning they acquire is that which I attach to them. I’ll only find reverence by seeking it out, by listening to it, by sharing it. This conclusion may lack the certainty of the altar or the parade field, but it is girded with a realization, both terrifying and awesome, that time is fleeting, and that soon, all this will have passed.

—Richard Farrell

Richard Farrell is the Creative Non-Fiction Editor at upstreet and a Senior Editor at Numéro Cinq  (in fact, he is one of the original group who helped found the site). A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he has worked as a high school teacher, a defense contractor, and as a Navy pilot. He holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is currently at work on a collection of short stories. His work, including fiction, memoir, essays, interviews and book reviews, has appeared in Hunger Mountain, A Year in Ink, upstreet, New Plains Review, Descant (Canada)  and Numéro Cinq . He lives in San Diego.

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•   2013 , Essays , NC Magazine , Nonfiction , Vol. IV, No. 8, August 2013

  16 Responses to “On Reverence: Essay — Richard Farrell”

Beautiful Rich! I think a way to bring back reverence in our lives is to be constantly and consciously grateful, and maybe that’s a part of the routine? I’m here at VCFA, about to start the residency, and your post has inspired me! I’ve got 2 hours before the faculty meeting, I think I’ll take a drive over to Hope Cemetery in Barre and experience some oooo and awe and some reverence…

Diane! Nice to hear from you again! Glad you are back in Vermont. I hope you have a wonderful rez and hear/play/compose some great music! Thanks so much for reading and for commenting.

Such a beautiful essay! Thank you for sharing this.

Thanks, Jeanne.

Yes, beautiful! Rich, you are always so honest and so profound. As a teen, I sniffed at “meaningless rituals” until I realized there is no such thing: every ritual has meaning. And I agree with Diane Moser, reverence can be born from gratitude. I’m working now with lifers out on parole who never expected to be free again, and “reverence” is certainly the word to describe how they respond to the sky, to every bird in every tree and stray cat in the street, to anyone who smiles and greets them in the grocery store. They are still at the point where the overwhelming feeling is gratitude for this second chance in life. They take nothing for granted.

Diane, As always many thanks for reading and commenting. The work you’re doing sounds amazing. I spent some time at the website the other day and I’m looking forward to reading more. I’d love to get up to LA and sit in on a workshop some time. Again, many thanks.

Thank you for checking out the website. I think I will quote you as we prepare the book of the men’s writing. Your essay really hit home as I find so much reverence in them. After their decades in prison, every glimpse of sky, every tree, bird, alley cat, bicycle ride fills them with awe.

Wow, amazing. Your essays are such a joy to read, Rich. Thank you. Sometimes I feel like you are in my head speaking to me–such is the intimacy you create for/with your reader.There is so much here. I have for a long time been obsessed with this idea of awe and I guess reverence. I have thought often of the way certain things that inspire awe in me or bring reverence to my life are inexplicable. I have no words, no way to articulate to my husband the way the sunset over the lake of my childhood feels to me as I stand for a moment barefoot on the beach on my way to the house from the sauna where I have just stoked the fire and I can smell the scent of wood smoke on my hands…how much this landscape has given to me. Yet isn’t that what we seek in writing? Oddly (to me) because we seek to do it in words, and words are what fail me in moments of awe. I want to replicate that experience for the reader, I want to offer to the reader my sense of reverence, my sense of terror over my existence and its smallness, its fleeting nature, its unimaginable beauty. I want also to find this in the books I read and I do.

As a child visiting the rocky mountains or the pacific ocean I was awestruck, I was filled will something, it was as if something in me opened and said, here, this is how you can live… this will heal you. Dillard, I believe, in “For the Time Being” really tries to capture this stuff (awe, reverence, grace, ?) in a big way. I adored this book and wanted to write my lecture at VCFA on it, but then I could never figure out what I wanted to say exactly, I could never pin something down. But your essay does. And yes, where is reverence in our daily, modern lives? Must we seek it out? Train ourselves to see? I think so, but I don’t really know. Thanks again.

Emily, Thank you for the kind words. I think you’re exactly right, that so much of what we want to do is convey those feelings, those emotions, those moments of awe. How wonderful to find ways to do that.

“Any little impulse can lead to the sublime”–this is one of the most hopeful (and astonishingly accurate) observations I’ve read in a long, long time. Thank you, Rich, for daring to re-open all our eyes to the world around us. Stillness, silence, reverence: how different would the world be if these were central values and not considered luxuries or only reserved for vacations? Beautiful, Rich, just beautiful.

Bob, Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement.

Exquisite piece, Rich. Oh, how it resonates with me: “I’ll only find reverence by seeking it.” How about recognizing that which is meant to be revered? The quotidian seems to get in the way, even technology – texting, email, Facebook, twitter, etc. My husband and I are in Florida, on the beach, visiting family, where the gulf licks our feet, lightening bolts splice the sky, a toddler digs his unadulterated toes into the sand, and a passerby coddles a baby snake in his arms: “I don’t want him to get hit by a car,” he says. Yes, that’s reverence – awareness. Thanks again for sharing such an important piece.

Many thanks, Melissa, for reading and commenting. How quickly we forget to be aware. I appreciate the reminders too!

Your extraordinary essay reminds us of what is truly important in life, and in this sense it gives me hope. But hope is a fragile thing, all too easily shattered by the machinations of life. It is undeniable that reverence, in your words, “is on the decline, if not under downright assault, in the culture at large.” What is it about the culture “at large’ that has given rise to this decline or assault, and what can we do about it? As you rightly observe, a sense of reverence involves sharing this most precious of experiences and that it is still-born without finding a voice in community. And, Richard, this is precisely where my hope runs aground. I suspect that there are fewer and fewer real opportunities to share experiences of reverence for those individuals who are truly lighting the way today. I have in mind those creative souls who are constitutionally opposed to the devaluation of experience for the sake of a profane and instrumental view of existence. Unlike the autistic child in your essay, the “short circuiting” of the triangulation process (the phenomenon, the enlightened individual, and the communication of the reverential) is all too often not the result of the individual’s limitations or makeup, but stems from the radical restructuring of culture. The restructuring in our era is along corporate lines, a change that is elevating the profane above all else.

Paul, Thank you for this thoughtful and sobering reply. Your words and message remind me how hard it is to grasp anything worthwhile in the great noise of the culture around us. I ran into this experience just this afternoon, after reading an incredible essay by the poet (and NC contributor) Rick Jackson. The essay, “Re(In)fusing Heaven” (in the most recent The Writer’s Chronicle”) staggers the mind, both in it’s profound message and in it’s formal structuring. “What literature, what poetry, asks forgiveness for is its inability to say what’s unsayable,” Jackson writes. The essay goes on to inquire about the nature of language and creativity in the most elegant, the most dizzying display of erudition and eloquence I’ve read in quite some time.

And yet, I couldn’t help thinking, how can this message be heard? Above the clamor of what you called, “The restructuring in our era is along corporate lines, a change that is elevating the profane above all else”? I read this essay then come home and was assaulted by images on the television, the internet, my phone, etc. Art asks for forgiveness because it recognizes and even embraces its failures, while the larger, dominant culture sins with an unreflecting arrogance borne of certainty and lies. What’s the solution? And you’re right, absolutely right, that the individual feels powerless, perhaps even is rendered that way, by the restructuring of the culture. But hasn’t it always been thus? Hasn’t the poet, the artist, the thinker, always stood in defiance against the church, the state, the corporation? I keep thinking of something Kathleen Norris once wrote that affected me deeply. I’m paraphrasing this…forgive me!: She compared poets and monks, and said that the world may little care that monks are praying and that writers are writing, but somehow the world needs this, and takes some measure of comfort in these things, is comforted by them, even while it doesn’t value them. Perhaps this is woefully naïve (certainly it is) but it’s all I have to go on. I look at the work you’re doing and am reminded again how quietly important it is. I don’t know, Paul, this is such a existential tug-of-war for me personally. I think, what the fuck am I doing, trying to commit my life to this when no one seems to care. As a friend recently and thoughtfully reminded me when I began to complain that I’d lost my way on this road, ‘what’s the alternative?’

I appreciate your reply. I appreciate you taking the time to read and to share your thoughts with me. It matters, however quietly. As Rick Jackson writes, “Despite the fact that the world, the cosmos, now seems like a madhouse with few consolations, few means for understanding ‘where we are going,’ there is yet a faith here…”

The salvation for those of us trying to make a difference in the arts (or even society in general) is to be found in ourselves. This seems self-evident. The simple act of recognizing each other in terms of our talents and abilities can be the first step in building a lasting community of artists and thinkers who share similar values, at least where art is concerned. Those of us with alternative visions of what culture might be and how our society might evolve …can only endure this darkness by taking solace in each others gifts.

Thank you, Richard, for your kindness.

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Heroes: What They Do & Why We Need Them

A commentary on today's heroes, how i came to study heroes.

The famed comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell once said, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

Campbell was profoundly wise. He knew that the hero’s journey was the grand blueprint for each human being’s path in life. Our journeys are wild and unpredictable to us despite the pattern of the journey being plainly evident in every novel that we read and in every movie that we see. My own personal journey fits the Campbellian path and led me to the study of heroism.

Studying heroes was not on my to-do list as a young assistant professor.  Years ago I was interested not in great people, but in the types of situations that give rise to cooperative behavior in groups. I published a number of studies that examined the conditions under which people placed their group’s welfare ahead of their own individual welfare (e.g., Allison & Messick, 1985, 1990; Samuelson & Allison, 1994). Not surprisingly, these conditions were hard to find, as people tend to show self-serving biases in their distributions of resources and in their self-assessments of their morals and abilities. I was struck by the ways in which subtle variations in the environment could lead people down the path of either selfishness or selflessness (Allison, McQueen, & Schaerfl, 1992).  It wasn’t quite heroism research but my research did focus on the factors that tend to make people behave badly – or well – in group settings.

These two epic adventures were composed at different points of time in human history, and in different parts of the world, and yet they bore a striking resemblance to the two great western epic stories I had read in high school and in college, namely, the Iliad and the Odyssey .  The Epic of Sundiata tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire.  Born an ugly hunchback, Sundiata was prophesized to become a great ruler of the Mali people.  The existing king felt threatened by this prophecy and thus banished Sundiata from the kingdom, but years later Sundiata returned to defeat the king and establish the great empire.  In Monkey , a brave young pilgrim named Tripitaka must travel to strange faraway places to retrieve sacred information needed to enlighten the entire Chinese people.  Tremendous courage, wisdom, and virtue are needed by Tripitaka to accomplish this objective.

People’s fascination with old dead legendary figures caught my attention.  Nearly every psychological theory I had encountered was centered on people’s fascination with living people, not dead people, and so I sensed an opportunity to study how human beings perceive and evaluate the dead.  This led my colleagues and I to write articles on the death positivity bias – the tendency of people to evaluate the dead more favorably than the living (Allison, Eylon, Beggan, & Bachelder, 2009).  It also led to our discovery of the frozen in time effect – people’s tendency to resist changing their evaluations of the dead even when new information surfaces that challenges that evaluation (Eylon & Allison, 2005).

Yet somehow, there was indeed an indirect connection to heroism, although we weren’t consciously aware of it at the time.  Looking back at our 1980s collaborative work in Santa Barbara, I should have realized that some day Goethals and I would surely write about heroes.  The first paper we published together, along with David Messick, was inspired by one of our heroes, the boxer Muhammad Ali.  We were always fascinated by Ali’s influence and leadership outside the ring, particularly his role in making race relations change in the United States.  Ali was always his own man.  He insisted on being called Muhammad Ali rather than what he referred to as his slave name, Cassius Clay.  At first the media refused to go along.  But as we know from his long boxing career, Ali never quit.  Eventually sports writers and broadcasters recognized that he was right to insist that they call him what he wanted to be called.  He led the way for many, many more African Americans to use names that reflected their pride in their racial identity.  There was no doubt that he was the first, and that he led the way.

At that point neither of us had turned to studying heroism or leadership or the connections between them.  But we were inching closer in that direction.  I joined the faculty at Richmond in 1987 and continued to conduct work focusing on pro-social behavior in groups, examining the conditions under which people place their group’s well-being ahead of their own individual interests.  Goethals, meanwhile, returned to Williams and was publishing some great work on group goals, social judgment processes, and eventually leadership.

When Goethals was coaxed to join the faculty at Richmond in 2004, he and I renewed our collaboration, this time focusing on the underdog effect – the tendency of people to root for disadvantaged entities in competition.  This research was borne out of our earlier interest in such diverse heroes such as Muhammad Ali, Sundiata, and Odysseus, all of whom somehow overcame the most terrible adversity to achieve greatness.  Goethals and I embarked on a research program exploring people’s love for underdogs (Kim et al., 2008), and this research evolved slowly into work examining triumphant underdogs who became exemplary leaders and heroes.  Our interest in underdogs, Goethals’ exceptional scholarship on U.S. Presidents, and my own research on people’s reverence for the dead (Allison et al., 2009), all eventually led to the books and articles on heroes that Goethals and I have written today (Allison & Goethals, 2008, 2011, 2013, in press; Goethals & Allison, 2012).

Our first book on heroes, Heroes: What They Do & Why We Need Them (Allison & Goethals, 2011) addressed the psychology of constructing heroes in our minds as well as the path that great heroes take when they perform their heroic work. Although scholarship on leadership, particularly Howard Gardner’s (1997) Leading Minds , was always important in the way we thought about heroes, our general exploration of the psychology of heroism diverted us from focusing on the connections between leadership and heroism.  Those connections were explored more fully in our review article in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Goethals & Allison, 2012), where Goethals and I proposed a conceptual framework for understanding heroism in terms of the influence that heroes exert.  Heroes, we argued, vary in their depth of influence, their breadth of influence, their duration of influence, and the timing of their influence.

But there was clearly much more to consider.  This became increasingly clear in 2010 when we started to blog about heroes .  Within four years we have written more than 150 hero analyses, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to the blog.  Exactly 100 of our hero profiles were included in our book on Heroic Leadership (Allison & Goethals, 2013).  Profiling so many great individuals made it increasingly clear that all of our heroes were also leaders.  They might not fit traditional leader schemas, or people’s implicit theories of leadership, but they were clearly leaders in the sense that Gardner defined it in 1997.  Either directly or indirectly, through face-to-face contact or through their accomplishments, products and performances, heroes influence and lead significant numbers of other people.

My second observation relates to the Joseph Campbell quote that began this essay.  We may think that we can plan how our careers will unfold, but in reality outside forces are always at work that have a far more powerful effect on our professional lives than anything we could ever imagine.  What exactly are these “outside forces”?  They are the influential people, resources, circumstances, luck, and zeitgeist which are forever lurking and shifting around us.  For me, these factors included David Messick’s willingness to serve as my advisor in graduate school, George Goethals’ decision to choose Santa Barbara as the location for his leave in 1985, my choice to work at a small liberal arts school like Richmond which offered that “great books” course, Richmond’s school of leadership offering a position to Goethals in 2004, and many, many more happy chance events.

The serendipitous events that shape our lives are inescapable.  During my career, I have been swept and swayed by these influences and have tried not to fight them but to embrace them.  These ever-present and ever-changing forces underscore the truism that nothing we can plan in life is ever as special as the unintended route we ultimately take.  Dan Gilbert, the eminent social psychologist at Harvard University, was once asked, “What’s the key to success?”  His immediate reply:  “Get lucky.  Accidentally find yourself at the right place at the right time.”  The idea here is that while we’d like to think we are the architects of our own destiny, we are more the product of forces beyond our control than we would like to think.   Gilbert later went on to explain this idea more fully in his best-selling book entitled, appropriately enough, Stumbling on Happiness (Gilbert, 2007).

“Serendipity,” wrote scientist Pek van Andel, “is the art of discovering an unsought finding.”  Many unsought events had to come together for George Goethals and me to embark on our exploration of heroes.  The beautiful orchestration of unpursued circumstances led to the books and articles on heroism that we published (Allison & Goethals, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015; Goethals & Allison, 2012, 2015; Goethals, Allison, Kramer, & Messick, 2015).  The wondrous thing about serendipity is that it has our best interests in mind, as long as we trust it.  We need only remain open to receiving, and capitalizing on, the unexpected gifts and opportunities that sly happenstance throws our way.

Allison, S. T., Eylon, D., Beggan, J.K., & Bachelder, J. (2009).  The demise of leadership: Positivity and negativity in evaluations of dead leaders.  The Leadership Quarterly , 20 , 115-129.

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2008). Deifying the dead and downtrodden:  Sympathetic figures as inspirational leaders. In C.L. Hoyt, G. R. Goethals, & D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Leadership at the crossroads: Psychology and leadership . Westport, CT: Praeger.

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2011).  Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them.   New York: Oxford University Press.

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2013).  Heroic Leadership: An Influence Taxonomy of 100 Exceptional Individuals .  New York: Routledge.

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2015). “Now he belongs to the ages”: The heroic leadership dynamic and deep narratives of greatness. In Goethals, G. R., Allison, S. T., Kramer, R., & Messick, D. (Eds.), Conceptions of leadership: Enduring ideas and emerging insights . New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Kim, J., Allison, S. T., Eylon, D., Goethals, G., Markus, M., McGuire, H., & Hindle, S. (2008). Rooting for (and then Abandoning) the Underdog.  Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 2550-2573.

Mackie, D. M., Allison, S. T., Worth, L. T., & Asuncion, A. G. (1992). The impact of outcome biases on counter-stereotypic inferences about groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18 , 44-51.

McNamara, M. (2009).  Muhammad Ali’s new fight: Literacy . Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-2207050.html on June 15, 2012.

Samuelson, C. D., & Allison, S. T.  (1994).  Cognitive factors affecting the use of social decision heuristics when sharing resources.  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 58 , 1-27.

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2 thoughts on “ how i came to study heroes ”.

You were doing good until you got to “Siberia-like Massachusetts.” 🙁

Just kidding. 😉

That’s an interesting story and it certainly underlines the value of a multi-disciplinary liberal arts education. In the sciences, as in the arts, the cross pollination of knowledge, ideas, styles and viewpoints is what leads to inspiration, breakthroughs and progress. And I’m glad that, in addition to all the good work and your wonderful book, that your research has led to us being friends (and colleagues of a sort) both at ReNext and here. I’m proud to have been able to make a small contribution to this blog.

My own interest in heroism dates back farther, but is much less scholarly (although perhaps I can make it scholarly on a retroactive basis). It was books, comics and TV shows that inspired me. As an overly-sensitive grade-school kid, stories of heroes coming to the defense of others, saving lives, working together for the greater good, and so on would always choke me up (what the hell, they still do). One particularly strong memory is of a comic book about a Caspar-like little ghost whose friend had been abducted by a terrible ogre and he was determined to save him. To do so he armed himself with a useless pop gun, the only weapon he could find. The sight of this innocent character going on a hopeless quest against an undefeatable monster with a useless weapon for the sake of his friend had a profound effect on me (yeah, I was a weird kid). I remember following my mother around, trying to explain to her how incredibly important this was, until she chased me away. 😀

Thanks, RJ, for your support of this blog and for your friendship. I truly admire your sensitivity to heroic stories of people who do the right thing no matter what the odds, and no matter what the cost. This reminds me of what was once said about the classic Greek tragic hero Oedipus Rex: How can there be greater heroes than the ones who fight a battle they are sure to lose? Doing the right thing is reward in itself — something for all of us to think about.

Comments are closed.

77 My Hero Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best my hero topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting my hero topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about my hero, ❓ heroes essay questions.

• Celebrities as Good Role Models In the conclusion, it was affirmed that celebrities’ accomplishments are easily identifiable to the public, as is the case with Angelina and Oprah, and this makes them good role models.
• Willy Loman, a Poor Role Model to His Two Sons Biff and Happy The main theme in the play is sustained in the play with the sons of Willy attaining their personality from their father.
• Stereotyping Heroes in Cinema In mass media, representation usually involves the use of art and signs to change the concept of concrete reality, hence leading to stereotyping of characters and heroes in movies and other non-fiction programs from a […]
• My Hero: Bob Marley One of the things I admire the most about him is the possession of skills and the right attitude to influence positive change in society.
• Father as a Male Role Model During the days when schooling was considered to be accessible only to the children of the opulent, those who were not privileged enough to go to school, remained at home and helped their parents in […]
• Education and Leadership Role Modeling Generally, the article is of great significance to education, for it provides a guideline on what leadership trainers should emphasize in their endeavors of ensuring that education builds all round and sound mind leaders, who […]
• Significance of a Male Role Model for Forming Tomas and Gabe’s Personal It is possible to pay attention to Tomas and Gabe’s visions of masculinity referring to the ideas developed by Tomas in relation to the question, to the opinion which is characteristic for Gabe, and to […]
• Mythological and Modern-Day Heroes Myths and other forms of literature were the tools that the community used to pass the deeds of the heroes from one generation to the other.
• Parents as Failed Role Models: A Doll’s House and Fight Club The drinking culture of parents revealed in the story of the Fight Club underscores the elements that increase children’s exposure to alcohol and drug taking.
• The Life and Work of Jane Goodall, a Scientist and Role Model
• An Overview of the Reasons Why President Clinton Is a Role Model for Young People
• Prophet Muhammad as Role Model for Religious Teachers
• The Value of a Role Model in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• How Fortinbras is a Role Model to Hamlet
• The Privatization of Italian Savings Banks: A Role Model for Germany
• A Literary Analysis of the Influence of a Role Model in to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Risk Culture and the Role Model of the Honorable Merchant
• The Reasons Why I Look up to Clinton Richard Dawkins as a Role Model
• A Feminist Role Model in the Character of Catherine Earnshaw
• Positive Role Model in the Children and Young Peoples Workforce
• The Global Environment Facility-a Role Model for International Governance
• Transformational Leaders As A Role Model
• Family and Cosmopolitan Role Model
• The Importance of a Role Model That Impacts a Person’s Life
• Princess Diana as a Role Model and People’s Princess
• The Misconception of a Role Model and the Relation to an Athlete
• Virtue Ethics And The Great Role Model Of Folklore And Language
• Gender and the Study of Economics: Is There A Role Model Effect
• Paul Erlich as an Environmental Role Model
• What Makes Nooyi An Exceptional Role Model For All Of The Women?
• Finding America’s Television Role Model
• The Effect of Cristiano Ronaldo as My Football Role Model
• Ethical Issues and Management: Manager as a Role Model
• Oprah ‘s Role Model For Women Breaking Down Many Invisible
• Tennyson’s Ulysses as a Victorian Role Model
• The Police Officer as a Role Model for Children
• Role Of A Role Model For Employees
• Why Rey Is the Female Role Model I’ve Always Wanted
• The Role Model Qualities Shown by the Finchs’s Maid in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Professional Athletes Should Be Role Model to Kindergartners in Modern Society
• Holden Caufield as a Role Model in The Catcher in the Rye
• Why I Chose Martin Luther King as My Role Model
• The United States as a Role Model Government
• Women Rhetoricians’ Role Model and Pan Chao
• What Makes A Role Model Like A Good Outlook
• The Constitution of India is a Role Model for The World
• The Importance Of A Good Leader And A Role Model On The Team
• Importance Of Being a Role Model
• True Grit Is Not A Good Role Model For Young Women Today
• What Is the Concept of a Hero?
• How Do Heroes Inspire Us?
• What Is a Hero in Real Life?
• What Is the Importance of a Hero?
• What Is a Good Hero Statement?
• How Do Heroes Improve Our Lives?
• What Is a Hero to Humanity?
• What Are the Characteristics of the Hero?
• What Made a Person a Hero?
• What Is a Hero Leader?
• Is It Important to Have a Role Model That Influences a Person’s Life?
• Who Is the Greatest Hero in History?
• What Does a Hero of Our Time Mean?
• What Are the Qualities of a Hero?
• What Are the Ways to Be a Hero?
• What Makes a Hero Powerful?
• What Makes a Strong Role Model?
• What Are Role Models Responsible For?
• Why Are Role Models Important to Identity?
• What Are the Types of Heroes?
• Who Is the Best Positive Role Model?
• What Can Be a Positive Role Model in the Workforce?
• What Is the Difference Between Ancient and Modern Heroes?
• What Is an Anti-hero?
• How Are Heroes and Villains Represented in Films?
• How Did Education Affect the Success of Forbes Heroes?
• What’s the Difference Between Imperfection and Cultural Heroes?
• Idealism Paper Topics
• Moral Dilemma Paper Topics
• Belief Questions
• Hard Work Research Topics
• Self-Concept Questions
• Honesty Essay Ideas
• My Family Research Topics
• Virtue Ethics Questions
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Heroism Essay: Learn To Write By Example And Writing Tips

May 21, 2022 | 0 comments

May 21, 2022 | Blog | 0 comments

So, what exactly is a heroism essay?

A heroism essay is a narrative story about someone who has gone above and beyond their duty to help others. The hero, in this case, is not just any older adult but someone who has done something extraordinary for the benefit of humanity. Heroes are among us every day—they might be teachers, doctors, or anyone who helps others when needed most.

The word “hero” comes from ancient Greek mythology: heroes were men and women known for their strength and bravery in battle (and sometimes even being born half-god). These days we don’t worship Greek gods or fight wars over land–but we still admire people who do great things for their communities!

Table of Contents

Definition of heroism essay.

A heroism essay is a type of writing that describes a heroic act by a person. It includes facts and details about the person’s life, including what they did to be considered “heroic.” This paper is interesting because it allows you to show your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and beliefs. You can also make a difference in people’s lives by writing about someone brave enough to do something good for society.

This article will teach you how to write an excellent heroism essay for your class or any other purpose that requires this kind of paper (for example persuasive essay).

Examples of Heroes

The word “hero” has many meanings. Some people would use this word to describe a movie star or celebrity; however, there are some very real heroes in the world. These individuals have gone above and beyond their job descriptions to help someone else. The same can be said for someone who doesn’t have a job at all but still saves another person’s life by doing something considered heroic by most people.

There are many heroes out there from different walks of life who have shown us courage and bravery in times when others were not willing to stand up for what was right or needed to be done. One such individual is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who fought against racism and hatred during his time as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

He worked hard towards equality among all races. He tried his best to improve himself and those around him because he felt everyone deserved equal rights regardless of race, background, etcetera. Main Info Text: “It may well be true that death will be more painful than birth while birth lasts only nine months instead of forty years.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

If you’re struggling to pick an example, here’s one approach: Think of someone who has been an important part of your life—a family member, friend, or teacher—who has done something heroic at some point in their life. Then try to figure out why this person inspires you and what makes them special to you (their strength? Their bravery? Their willingness to put others first?).

Essay Structure of Heroism Essay

Introduction: The introduction is the first paragraph of your essay. It should be short (one or two sentences) and clear. This paragraph aims to provide a context for the rest of your work, giving readers some background information about what you plan to talk about in the body paragraphs. You might also want to provide some personal reflection on heroism or even a quote or two that will shape what you say later in the essay.

Body paragraphs: Each paragraph should begin with an introductory sentence that clearly states its main point—what argument are you making? Then provide examples from literature or history, from real life (if applicable), etc., to support this point with evidence from sources outside yourself. When appropriate, include quotes as well!

Conclusion: A conclusion wraps up your thoughts by summarizing what they have been throughout the essay and provides a final statement on them—what have we learned here? What has changed?

How to Write a Heroism Essay

• Choose and Write about a hero.
• Define the concept of a hero.
• Describe your hero in the body of the essay.
• Summarize the main points you’ve made in your paper, including how you chose your topic, what definition of heroism you used, and how you described your hero as part of this definition.

Choose A Worthy Example Of A Hero

The first step in learning how to write an essay about your hero is to choose a worthy example of a hero. There are many heroes: real and fictional, historical and modern, famous and obscure. While it’s true that many people can look up to the same person as their hero (for instance, both you and your best friend may admire Bill Clinton), keep in mind that when choosing someone as your inspiration or role model, you must select someone who means something special to YOU.

Your essay will be most effective if there is a connection between yourself and the subject of your writing. Perhaps this person has been especially helpful or inspiring throughout their life; perhaps they have achieved success in their way despite obstacles they’ve faced; maybe they have some other quality that makes them stand out from others around them. Whatever qualities made this person stand out for YOU personally makes up part of why they deserve recognition as one of YOUR heroes!

Start by defining the concept.

Before you begin writing, it’s important to define the concept of heroism itself. When you read books or watch movies about heroes, do they all seem the same person? How does one distinguish between a hero and a villain in fiction?

The term “hero” is used quite often today. You can use it about someone who saves lives from danger, such as firefighters and doctors; people who inspire others by setting an example; or even someone who has overcome great difficulties. The characteristics of heroism differ from culture to culture and from person to person; however, there are some basic traits that all heroes share: courage and selflessness are two very important ones!

Tell about your hero in the body of the essay.

Tell about your hero in the body of the essay. After all, you’re writing a paper on heroism, and it makes sense to talk about who has inspired you. Give examples of who your hero is and explain why they are your hero. For example, say something like: “My mom taught me how to be kind and caring for others. She always helps people in need, no matter what day or night.”

You could also talk about how they have impacted others’ lives and yours. The best way to do this is by providing specific examples or stories that illustrate their heroic qualities—this will make it easier for readers to understand why this person was so special in your life (and hopefully inspire them).

If there’s one thing that you can say definitively about heroes, it’s that they inspire us all by helping give meaning and purpose to our own lives through acts of selflessness or bravery beyond compare; therefore, these individuals deserve recognition not only from those close friends but also from society at large through media coverage and public acknowledgment via awards ceremonies such as Oscars®, Emmys®, etcetera!

Conclude with a summary of the main points

A conclusion is essential to every essay because it’s your last chance to leave an impression on the reader. It would help if you used this section to summarize the main points of your essay and reiterate your thesis statement . A good conclusion will tie everything together by showing how everything in the body of work you’ve just presented fits into a larger whole—and why they’re relevant.

Many writing experts recommend summarizing each paragraph from your introduction to help focus attention on the major points you’ve made in your paper. You can also restate or paraphrase one or more sentences from each paragraph, depending on how many points in total there are; for example: “In summary,” “Accordingly,” or “Finally.”

Additional tips on writing a heroism essay

Writing a heroism essay is not difficult once you are the know-how. If you want to write well, then I suggest that you take a look at the following additional tips:

• Pay attention to the introduction and conclusion. These are your essay’s first and last sentences, which means they’re also the most important ones! You want them to grab your reader’s attention and make sure they know what you’re talking about right off the bat.
• Avoid clichés, but don’t be afraid to use them if it helps your argument. Some clichés can be cliché for a reason—they’re true! If you need an example of this, consider that love is always “a battlefield in pop music.” It’s not necessarily bad; it works better in certain contexts than others.
• Avoid too much detail (unless it’s necessary). Don’t get bogged down by extraneous facts or arguments—these distract from what makes heroism truly heroic: selflessness for others’ sake. Don’t use more than three examples unless necessary—and even then, ask yourself if there are other ways you could express yourself instead of citing specific instances from history or pop culture that would illustrate your point just as well (or better). For example: “There was once an extraordinary man named Bernie Sanders who fought tirelessly against wealth inequality…” vs., “There was once an extraordinary man named Bernie Sanders who made sure everyone had access to healthcare…”
• Specificity and details are important. To make your essay stand out from the crowd, you must use specifics and examples in your writing. For example, instead of saying, “The hero’s actions were brave,” try something like, “The hero jumped onto the train tracks without hesitation.” This shows more about what happened during the heroic moment than just stating it flatly.
• Make sure that every idea supports one another with evidence from different sources for your argumentation to make sense as a whole piece of work (not just an incomplete collection).
• Try avoiding passive voice sentences when possible. They tend to sound less engaging than active voice ones because they don’t tell us much about who did what when/where etcetera which can sometimes be useful information depending on context (see below).

Heroism Essay Sample

Key takeaways.

In this article, you learned some tips and tricks on how to write a good essay about heroism. A hero has done something extraordinary, and it can be someone who is famous or someone you know personally. You also need to choose an interesting topic for your essay because if you have a boring topic, there’s no point in writing the essay at all!

A good way of making your essay more interesting is by using stories, but only if they’re relevant to your topic. It’s not necessary that you have to base your essay on a personal experience; it could be based on anything else too!

Get Help from our Experts with your Heroism Essay Paper

We are here to help you with your heroism essay. Our professional writers are ready to assist you with a wide range of topics, and our customer support team is available 24/7. If you need assistance at any time, don’t hesitate to ask us!

Our writers will ensure that all the requirements of your assignment are met while addressing the topic in depth. With their expertise and attention to detail, they can write an essay that will impress your instructor.

If you want revisions or amendments made after getting the first draft back, there’s no need for stress—our editors have been trained in all aspects of editing, so they know what you should make edits and how to make them seamlessly. You won’t have any issues with communication during this process because our customer support team will work closely with both parties until everyone is satisfied with the results!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you define heroism essay.

heroism is the highest manifestation of devotion and courage in public duty performance. A hero is a person who, for his achievements or qualities, is seen as an ideal, an example to follow.

What is the true meaning of heroism?

Heroism consists of putting others first, even at your own peril. The noun heroism comes from the Greek hērōs, which referred to a demigod. As someone who shows great courage and valor is referred to as a hero, their actions are considered to be acts of heroism.

What is the importance of heroism?

Learning about heroes like Lewis, researchers say, can inspire kids with reverence and awe – and motivate them to be heroic themselves. Heroes exemplify cherished values, display qualities we admire, show us how to overcome challenges – and call us to stand up for others. They help build a better world for us all.

What is a hero short essay?

It is a short essay of about 1 or 2 pages or about 300 to 500 words on a hero. A hero is anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is a person who is able to help another in various ways. A person can become a hero by saving someone who is in danger. Another example of a hero is someone who is there to help others and gives them the strength to go on through life’s difficulties.

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Essays About Heroes: 5 Examples And Topic Ideas

Here, we’ll look at examples of essays about heroes and questions that can be used as topics for essays about an imagined or real hero.

A few different images likely come to mind when you hear the word hero. You may imagine Superman flying above the world with his superpower of flight. You may imagine a personal hero, a real person who has made a significant impact on your life for the better. You might think of a true hero as someone who has shown heroic qualities in the public eye, working to help ordinary people through difficult situations.

When writing an essay about your life hero, it’s important to consider the qualities of that person that make them stand out to you. Whether you choose to write an essay about how your mom got you through tough times and became your role model or about a political figure who made a difference in the lives of people in history, it’s key to not just focus on the person’s actions—you’ll also want to focus on the qualities that allowed them to act heroically.

Here, we’ll explore examples of hero essays and potential topics to consider when writing about a hero.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers

Examples Of Essays About Heroes

• 1. These Are The Heroes Of The Coronavirus Pandemic By Ruth Marcus
• 2. Why Teachers Are My Heroes By Joshua Muskin
• 3. Martin Luther King Jr.—Civil Rights Activist & Hero By Kathy Weiser-Alexander

4. Steve Prefontaine: The Track Of A Hero By Bill O’Brian

5. forget hamilton, burr is the real hero by carey wallace, topic ideas for essays about heroes, 1. what makes a hero, 2. what are the most important characteristics of heroes in literature, 3. what constitutes a heroic act, 4. is selflessness required for heroism.

1.  These Are The Heroes Of The Coronavirus Pandemic  By Ruth Marcus

“Is this what they signed up for? There is some danger inherent in the ordinary practice of medicine, but not this much. I confess: I do not know that I would do the same in their circumstances; I am not sure I am so generous or so brave. If my child were graduating from medical school, how would I deal with her being sent, inadequately protected, into an emergency room? If my husband were a physician, would I send him off to the hospital — or let him back into the house in the interim?” Ruth Marcus

Healthcare workers have had no choice but to go above and beyond in recent years. In this essay, Marcus discusses the heroism of those in the healthcare field. He delves into the traits (including selflessness and courage) that make doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers heroes.

2.  Why Teachers Are My Heroes   By Joshua Muskin

“Teachers are my heroes because they accept this responsibility and try extremely hard to do this well even when the conditions in which they work are far from ideal; at least most do. Our jobs as society, education systems, and parents is to do our best to be strong allies to teachers, since their success is essential to ours.” Joshua Muskin

In this essay, Dr. Muskin discusses the many challenges teachers face and what parents, administrators, and education researchers can do to help teachers support students. Muskin explains that most teachers go above and beyond the call of duty to serve their classrooms.

3.  Martin Luther King Jr.—Civil Rights Activist & Hero   By Kathy Weiser-Alexander

“During this nonviolent protest, activists used boycotts, sit-ins, and marches to protest segregation and unfair hiring practices that caught the attention of the entire world. However, his tactics were put to the test when police brutality was used against the marchers, and King was arrested. But, his voice was not silenced, as he wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to refute his critics.” Kathy Weiser-Alexander

In this essay, Weiser-Alexander details both the traits and the actions of Dr. King before and during the civil rights movement. The author touches on King’s commitment to justice, persistence, and willingness to stand for his beliefs despite difficult circumstances.

“I remember this so vividly because Prefontaine was a hero to me, a hero in a way that no one was before, or really has been since. A British commentator once called him “an athletic Beatle.” If so, his persona was much more Lennon than McCartney. Actually, I thought of him more as Mick Jagger — or ultimately James Dean.” Bill O’Brian

A hero to many in the running world, Prefontaine’s confidence, unique style, and unmatched athletic ability have been heralded for decades. In this essay, O’Brian shares how he, as a distance runner during the era of Pre, related to his struggles and ambition.

“Burr fought against an ugly tide of anti-immigrant sentiment in the young republic, led by Hamilton’s Federalist party, which suggested that anyone without English heritage was a second-class citizen, and even challenged the rights of non-Anglos to hold office. In response, Burr insisted that anyone who contributed to society deserved all the rights of any other citizen, no matter their background.” Carey Wallace

In this essay, Wallace explains why Aaron Burr, the lifelong nemesis of founding father Alexander Hamilton, should be considered a historical hero. This essay exposes someone seen as a villain but much of society with a different take on their history. 

It can be interesting to think about your definition of a hero. When describing what the term hero means to you, you may want to choose a person (or a few people) you look up to as a hero to solidify your point. You might want to include fictional characters (such as those in the Marvel universe) and real-life brave souls, such as police officers and firefighters.

A word of caution: stay away from the cliche opening of describing how the dictionary defines a hero. Instead, lead-in with a personal story about a hero who has affected your life. While talking about a public figure as a hero is acceptable, you may find it easier to write about someone close to you who you feel has displayed heroic qualities. Writing about a family member or friend who has shown up as a heroic main character in your life can be just as exciting as writing about a real or imagined superhero.

From Beowulf to Marvel comics, heroes in literature take on many different traits. When writing an essay on what trait makes a hero come alive in a short story, novel, or comic, choose a few of your favorite heroes and find common themes that they share.

Perhaps your favorite heroes are selfless and are willing to put themselves last in the name of sacrifice for others. Perhaps they’re able to dig deep into the truth, being honest even when it’s hard, for the greater good. There’s no need to list endless heroes to make your point—choosing three or four heroes from literature can be a great way to support your argument about what characteristics define heroism in literature.

When someone is named a hero in real life, we often picture them saving people from a burning building or performing a difficult surgical operation. It can be difficult to pin down exactly what constitutes a heroic act. When writing about what constitutes a heroic act, think about people who go above and beyond, performing feats of courage, honesty, and bravery to support themselves or others. When writing about what constitutes a heroic act, discuss real-life or literary examples of heroes at work.

To many people, being a hero means giving back to others. While giving something away or trading in one’s well-being for others can certainly be seen as a heroic act, many people wonder if selflessness is required for heroism or if a hero can serve the greater good in a way that also supports their happiness. When writing about whether selflessness is required for heroism, choose examples from literature and real-life to support your point.

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

If you’re still stuck, check out our available resource of essay writing topics .

Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — Veterans — Honor to Veterans: A Tribute to Sacrifice and Service

Honor to Veterans: a Tribute to Sacrifice and Service

• Categories: Veterans

About this sample

Words: 708 |

Published: Sep 5, 2023

Words: 708 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Chapter 1: a legacy of sacrifice, chapter 2: expressions of gratitude, chapter 3: preserving their stories, conclusion: an enduring commitment.

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The Aeneid Essay Questions

The many gods and goddesses in the Aeneid are invested with highly distinctive, often capricious personalities. Choose several deities with distinct characteristics, and compare how their efforts influence the lives of mortals. Which deity is the most powerful? Which has the most influence over Aeneas and his companions?

Respect for one's ancestors is important to many characters in the Aeneid . How does Aeneas reveal his deep reverence for his forebears?

Aeneas has been criticized by some for being "too perfect" of a hero. Are there any episodes where his limitations are revealed? Where does he seem to demonstrate flaws? Would a modern audience see flaws that Virgil's earliest readers might have overlooked in their founding hero?

Many argue that Turnus is, in essence, a counterpart to Aeneas - one of the few characters with comparable strength and leadership abilities. Although it is easy to characterize Turnus as purely evil, do you think that Virgil intends him to be interpreted as wholly malevolent? What makes this character complex?

There are numerous sacrifices and omens throughout the Aeneid. Select some of these and discuss their specifics: why are the particular elements of the sacrifice chosen? How effective is the sacrifice? What makes the omen especially resonant in that moment? Is the omen interpreted correctly by those who witness it?

Dido is one of the most fascinating characters in the Aeneid. She knows that Aeneas is destined to build his kingdom elsewhere, but she refuses to accept the dictates of fate. To what extent is Dido a victim or responsible for her own tragedy, and in what ways does she share the characteristics of a hero?

Aeneas is destined to sail to Italy and build a great new empire that will one day become Rome. There are numerous references throughout the Aeneid to the inevitability of fate. When are the episodes where fate might have been thwarted? Could Aeneas have abandoned or failed to fulfill his destiny? What are the limits of free will when the endpoint is already set?

Many of the minor characters in the Aeneid , especially the mortal women (but not Dido or Camilla), are presented vaguely and as relatively uninteresting. But where would the story be without them? Discuss the potential and actual roles of some of the secondary characters.

The Aeneid Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Aeneid is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

In what ways does it espouse typical Roman virtues of Fortitudo (toughness), Prudentia (wisdom and planning ahead), Iusticia (justice), and Temperantia (moderation)

How does Aeneas reveal his deep reverence for his forebearers?

Aeneas pays proper respect to the gods and strives to always do his duty.

He is the son of Venus,

Aeneas makes purposeful visits to his home. Troy holds his allegiance, as does his family.

Study Guide for The Aeneid

The Aeneid study guide contains a biography of Virgil, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Aeneid
• The Aeneid Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Aeneid

The Aeneid literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Aeneid.

• Is Aeneas a Good Warrior?
• Aeneas, and the Reinvention of the Hero
• The Facets of Passion and Duty
• On Such a Night as This: Analysis of Vergil's Aeneid, II.248-259
• Two Treatments of a Woman Scorned

Lesson Plan for The Aeneid

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Aeneid
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Aeneid Bibliography

E-Text of The Aeneid

The Aeneid E-Text contains the full text of The Aeneid

Wikipedia Entries for The Aeneid

• Introduction

Remembering Filipino heroism

BETTER DAYS

By SENATOR SONNY ANGARA  

In today’s Information Age, it appears younger generations do not know much about our national heroes, let alone the stories of our modern-day heroes. This is unfortunate, especially since Philippine history is not lacking in stories of heroes who fought bravely for our country. From the Spanish era until today, we have Filipinos who resisted oppression, fought for freedom, and, in many cases, died for their cause.

The reality is we have relatively few media materials about our national heroes, aside from the occasional film dramatization or short TV series. If the reverse were true, then our people—specifically the youth—would know much more about these heroes and their actions and it would be more likely that a greater sense of patriotism and love for our country would have been instilled in them.

The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) under the Department of National Defense is working to address this very issue. Aside from taking care of veterans’ benefits, and empowering them, they also seek to memorialize the heroic deeds of our veterans, and in turn motivate future defenders of the country. To this end, they have undertaken the Love of Country Builders program, which involves in the construction of shrines and other facilities, the commemoration of historical events, and the publication of books and articles about our heroic veterans.

In a budget briefing with the DND and  attached agencies like the PVAO, I brought up the possibility of creating documentary films and other similar materials about our heroes, not only those from the Spanish era, but also those from more recent times.

Patriotic films and documentaries are a part of our history. During the First Golden Age of Philippine Cinema in the 1940s and 1950s, movies were made of the exploits of heroes, such as Diego Silang in 1951, Dagohoy in 1953, and Lapu-Lapu in 1955. In the present, we have movies that feature Gregorio del Pilar, Jose Rizal, Emilio Aguinaldo, Andres Bonifacio, and, of course, Antonio Luna.

However, my observation, which I shared with officials from the PVAO, is that these movies lean more towards dramatization. Indeed, a good part of the movie Heneral Luna, was devoted to his romantic life. While it is good to see our heroes fleshed out, what we need to see is what made them heroes, and what they did for their mother country.

There are also two other concerns in connection with this subject. The first is that many copies of the older movies about our heroes have been lost, are hard to find, or are inaccessible for whatever reason. The second is that while we have many historical references from the Spanish era, the same cannot be said for the Second World War. Thankfully, information is now being collected from that time.

For example, we have the story of Captain Jose Cabalfin Calugas Sr. who was born in Leon, Iloilo. He enlisted to serve the Philippine Scouts of the US Army in 1930, and was eventually assigned to the 88th Field Artillery Battalion. A few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 88th Battalion moved to Hermosa in Bataan, and by early January, the 88th was supporting the 31st US Infantry in defending their position at Layac Junction in Dinalupihan.

On January 6, 1942, Calugas voluntarily ran a thousand yards across open terrain, without orders, to man a 75mm cannon. There, he organized a squad to effectively suppress the enemy, even while under heavy artillery fire. He destroyed 60 advancing vehicles. For his actions that went above and beyond the call of duty, the president of the United States in the name of the US Congress awarded Calugas the Medal of Honor—the highest possible military decoration given to US servicemen.

At the very least, Calugas’ story of bravery deserves a short documentary. Even better, efforts should be undertaken to produce an entire documentary series on many unsung Filipino heroes—covering the Spanish period to the Second World War, even up to the present day to possibly include those who defended the nation during the Marawi conflict.

These documentaries could reach a wider audience via online streaming services, such as Netflix or YouTube. Hopefully, such digital media will help immortalize our heroes in a new way, putting them firmly in our national psyche once again.

In this new age, our heroes are all the more important. Our reverence for them should not only be about their triumphs and extraordinary feats, but also about their collective passion, determination, and love for their country and their fellow Filipinos.

We should support the PVAO and their Love of Country Builders’ Program, under which documentaries about our heroes, then and now, should be created and produced.  Such stories will never go out of style—and should be available at our fingertips.

Email:  [email protected] | Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 15 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 6 as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws.  He recently won another term in the Senate.

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ON HEROES, HERO-WORSHIP, AND THE HEROIC IN HISTORY A PENN STATE ELECTRONIC CLASSICS SERIES PUBLICATION

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081 Patriotic reverence for the history of a nation often do

By nsoonhui June 13, 2003 in GRE Analysis of an Issue

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81. "Patriotic reverence for the history of a nation often does more to impede than to encourage progress."

Is patriotic reverence for the history of a nation does more good or harm? Some believe that patriotism is the impetus behind all the progress. However I believe exactly the opposite. I shall argue, in fact, patriotism has done more harm than good to the development of the society.

We love our country, and we are proud of our ancestors. This sort of feeling is natural for all of us, and it is easy for us to develop affection towards our country. Thus when we look back to our history, we will develop a sense of awe for our ancestors who did much to fight imperialism and our hearts go to hero who secures the independent from Outsiders. However in doing so, we tend to embellish their barbarous acts and thus distorting the facts to fit our vision of irreproachable hero. In my country, the British who conquered Perak were depicted as villain in the secondary school textbook. Those who fought Britain’s authority was delineated as heroes and textbook portrayed their murderous act as heroic move. In the textbook, there is a chapter devoted to the murder of Birch, a British governor. Instead of condemning this criminal act, textbooks calls it an "awakening" and shamelessly praise the murderer for his courage. Under the spectacle of "patriotism", the textbook writer lost their sensible judgement. If we let our patriotism sentiment to get in the way, we may distort history to fulfil our wish.

Cunning politicians may misuse this patriotic reverence to canvass mass support for their own benefits. Whenever western media reports something negative on China, the ruling party will immediately resort to patriotic and historical sentiment. Government will tell their people that westerners are conspiring to impede the nation's development. Out of historical sentiments, most credulous Chinese can’t accept the westerner’s criticism for they believe that westerners don’t understand their culture and thus their criticism are invalid. Take the democratic movement as an example. Chinese believe that their unique culture and history disallow radical democracy movement. They believe that someday government will become more democratic after the nation achieved the developed country’s status. In doing so they allow government’s power to grow incontinent. Under bewitch of patriotism, most Chinese fail to see the mishap of their government and thus they keep bad governors in office. Their pride for their history and tradition has hindered the democratic movement.

The pride in nation's history can open doors to discrimination as well. We may feel so good about what our country had achieved in the past that we look down on other civilizations that is not as advance as ours. We will thus refuse to learn from them for we think that there's no point to do so. This sort of attitude hinders the development of society. Ancient China is such an example. China dynasty treated neighbouring countries with contempt. They viewed the Mongolians as barbarians because Mongolians didn't achieve much in history. The same attitude led China's dynasty to stop trading with Europe. As a result China was impounded in Dark Age for a few hundred years. If the Chinese were humble enough and nimble enough to learn from other civilizations, they would not suffer humiliation in the hands of imperialists.

To sum up, I believe that the patriotically reverence for the history of a nation is detrimental to the development of a country. We should think with our brains, not with our guts. If we can achieve this, then we are at least on the right track to become a great nation.

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Originally posted by nsoonhui   81. "Patriotic reverence for the history of a nation often does more to impede than to encourage progress." Is patriotic reverence for the history of a nation does more good or harm? Some believe that patriotism is the impetus behind all the progress. However I believe exactly the opposite. I shall (shall is not needed here) argue, in fact, patriotism has done more harm than good to the development of the society (Repetition of sentence. You are conveying the same meaning in both the sentences with little difference. One can be omitted or changed)   We love our country, and we are proud of our ancestors. This sort of feeling is natural for all of us, and it is easy for us to develop affection towards our country. Thus when we look back to our history, we will develop a sense of awe for our ancestors who did much to fight imperialism and our hearts go to hero who secures the independent from Outsiders. However in doing so, we tend to embellish their barbarous acts and thus distorting the facts to fit our vision of irreproachable hero. In my (who u r? how come anyone know which country are you talking about) country, the British who conquered Perak were depicted as villain in the secondary school textbook. Those who fought Britain’s authority was (number mistake: were) delineated as heroes and textbook portrayed their murderous act as heroic move. In the textbook, there is a chapter devoted to the murder of Birch, a British governor. Instead of condemning this criminal act, textbooks call it an "awakening" and shamelessly praise the murderer for his courage. Under the spectacle of "patriotism", the textbook writer lost their sensible judgment. If we let our patriotism sentiment to get in the way, we may (might …..may is used where you wish something to happen or be true…) distort history to fulfill our wish.   Do you really believe what you have written in the above paragraph! Any way …there are many obvious arguments which can be given against what you have said in the above paragraph. 1. How can you shamelessly (…. word taken from your paragraph…… Pleeeeeeease don’t use such words) forget what British did with Chinese, Indians and others while calling the acts of freedom fighters barbaric. 2. How can you call these acts criminal acts/ unlawful when there was no law at all? Can you call what English men imposed on Chinese: Law? The way you have deplored the freedom fighter of a country reflects your negative attitude. How can you forget Mahatma Gandhi (father of Non violence movement) from Indian was also a freedom fighter?   Cunning politicians may misuse this patriotic reverence to canvass mass support for their own benefits. (Good reason) Whenever western media reports something negative on China, the ruling party will immediately resort to patriotic and historical sentiment. Government will tell their people that westerners are conspiring to impede the nation's development. Out of historical sentiments, most credulous Chinese can’t accept the westerner’s criticism for they believe that westerners don’t understand their culture and thus their criticism are invalid. Take the democratic movement as an example. Chinese believe that their unique culture and history disallow radical democracy movement. They believe that someday government will become more democratic after the nation achieved the developed country’s status. In doing so they allow government’s power to grow incontinent. Under bewitch of patriotism, most Chinese fail to see the mishap of their government and thus they keep bad governors in office. Their pride for their history and tradition has hindered the democratic movement. (How can you say that communism is bad and democracy is good? This is another topic of controversy …..Which you can’t state as if it is true))   The pride in nation's history can open doors to discrimination as well. We may feel so good about what our country had achieved in the past that we look down on other civilizations that is not as advance as ours. We will thus refuse to learn from them for we think that there's no point to do so. This sort of attitude hinders the development of society. Ancient China is such an example. China dynasty treated neighbouring countries with contempt. They viewed the Mongolians as barbarians because Mongolians didn't achieve much in history. The same attitude led China's dynasty to stop trading with Europe. As a result China was impounded in Dark Age for a few hundred years. If the Chinese were humble enough and nimble enough to learn from other civilizations, they would not suffer humiliation in the hands of imperialists.   To sum up, I believe that the patriotically reverence for the history of a nation is detrimental to the development of a country. We should think with our brains, not with our guts. If we can achieve this, then we are at least on the right track to become a great nation.   Hi nsoon, Although, I am of the opposite opinion but I must appreciate the reasons you have given for your stand. Especially the last three (including the conclusion) paragraphs are good to read. I am not very much convinced by your reasoning in second paragraph? There are some grammatical mistakes which you need to take care. Some of the words you have used can be replaced with more suitable words.   When is your exam? Milli.    

First of all, I wish to thank you for having the interest to read through my essays and posting your valuable comments.

However, in this post I wish to defend my stand:)

We love our country, and we are proud of our ancestors. This sort of feeling is natural for all of us, and it is easy for us to develop affection towards our country. Thus when we look back to our history, we will develop a sense of awe for our ancestors who did much to fight imperialism and our hearts go to hero who secures the independent from Outsiders. However in doing so, we tend to embellish their barbarous acts and thus distorting the facts to fit our vision of irreproachable hero. In my (who u r? how come anyone know which country are you talking about)

You are right...I need to mention my country's name.

country, the British who conquered Perak were depicted as villain in the secondary school textbook. Those who fought Britain’s authority was (number mistake: were) delineated as heroes and textbook portrayed their murderous act as heroic move. In the textbook, there is a chapter devoted to the murder of Birch, a British governor. Instead of condemning this criminal act, textbooks call it an "awakening" and shamelessly praise the murderer for his courage. Under the spectacle of "patriotism", the textbook writer lost their sensible judgment. If we let our patriotism sentiment to get in the way, we may (might …..may is used where you wish something to happen or be true…) distort history to fulfill our wish.   [ Do you really believe what you have written in the above paragraph! Any way …there are many obvious arguments which can be given against what you have said in the above paragraph. 1. How can you shamelessly (…. word taken from your paragraph…… Pleeeeeeease don’t use such words) forget what British did with Chinese, Indians and others while calling the acts of freedom fighters barbaric. 2. How can you call these acts criminal acts/ unlawful when there was no law at all? Can you call what English men imposed on Chinese: Law? The way you have deplored the freedom fighter of a country reflects your negative attitude. How can you forget Mahatma Gandhi (father of Non violence movement) from Indian was also a freedom fighter?

1. First, I never called imperialists' act "honorable" and I don't deny the fact that imperialists were mistreating indegenous in the past. Nevertheless murdered an innocent is, and was consider as sin. If the opressed has the right to kill anyone without being incarcerated by law, our world would be in a state of great chaos. There are other legitimate ways to solve conflict, and murdering a governor isn't one of them.

2. I realised that some laws might not hold ubiquitous, but there are some universal moral standards which all civilasations adopt. Those natives didn't need others to tell them killing is bad, they knew it inside their heart.

3. I have no intention to played down the role of freedom fighters; in fact I respect them. The fact that Gandhi earned world wide deference is because he insisted on using non-violence means to fight imperialism. Murderer of birch breached the law to achieve his political agenda, while Gandhi relied on hunger strike to achieve nation's independance.

Anyway, thanks a lot for correcting my grammatical errors and also expressing opposing opinion. I realised that I hone my essays skills without other's comments.

I shall be taking GRE in October

harikrishnan

hi nsoonhui & milli,

I read your essay, the points you chose were strong, but as milli said I found that you sound harshly critical. I 've marked the words which speak too much emotion than the meaning they convey. So try to get better choices.

*************************************

We love our country, and we are proud of our ancestors. This sort of feeling is natural for all of us, and it is easy for us to develop affection towards our country. Thus when we look back to our history, we will develop a sense of awe for our ancestors who did much to fight imperialism and our hearts go to hero who secures the independent from Outsiders. However in doing so, we tend to embellish their barbarous acts and thus distorting the facts to fit our vision of i rreproachable hero. In my country, the British who conquered Perak were depicted as villain in the secondary school textbook. Those who fought Britain’s authority was delineated as heroes and textbook portrayed their murderous act as heroic move. In the textbook, there is a chapter devoted to the murder of Birch, a British governor. Instead of condemning this criminal act, textbooks calls it an "awakening" and shamelessly praise the murderer for his courage. Under the spectacle of "patriotism", the textbook writer lost their sensible judgement. If we let our patriotism sentiment to get in the way, we may distort history to fulfil our wish.

***********************

Your second point was very good, it will be better you use it as a climax point of your essay which would strengthen the message you convey. one more hing is that you have been too specific in refering every example to the chinese and history of china. Try to be more general, state the same fact as a universl one.

Here I post a very short essay on the same topic feel free to correct this.

Patriotic reverence to the history a country is a base of existence of a country. It is due to this stern respect that citizen of a country have, that makes men duty bound to serve the nation. Once this is lost the country loses its definition. The following are the reasons that may be stated form this.

The respect to the country’s heritage and history, imparted early from the childhood, creates an unconscious control over the actions. For example, if the child is brought up in a patriotic environment, his mind automatically fixes some principles which are governed by the respect to one’s nation. This saves the child from the confusions created in the adolescence, where everyone tends to generate iconoclastic views on everything. Since this adolescent child views these from a platform where he has set his foot firmly, decision making and opinion formation at this age would be easy and will be in the right way.

Secondly, history itself presents stories of patriotism and self sacrifice for the country. Every country has its own legends like war heroes, social reformers and great political leaders. When we learn about their contributions to the country, we gradually recognize how the face of the society was changed by these great people. In the words of Abdul Kalaam, President of India, this ignites the mind of the citizens with the duty which they owe towards the country. It is this ignited mind which contribute to the country’s up-liftment the most. All these are possible only when the reverence for the history of the country exist.

The time may have changed but the morals remain the same, so patriotic reverence seldom impedes growth, even if it rises to the level of chauvinism. One may get self conscious of such acts, but the results will always show up positive.

Although, there are arguments procecuting what you have said but I should admit that you have defecnded your stand very well. I think your essay can score 6.0 if you add these points in your essay.

" Critics of the idea might argue that what the British did with the Chinese was not worth any respect and any action to counter such barbaric acts ............. I ergue that ......First, I never called imperialists' act "honorable" and I don't deny the fact that imperialists were mistreating indegenous in the past. Nevertheless murdered an innocent is, and was consider as sin. If the opressed has the right to kill anyone without being incarcerated by law, our world would be in a state of great chaos. There are other legitimate ways to solve conflict, and murdering a governor isn't one of them."

BTW, what do you mean by this statement ?

I realised that I hone my essays skills without other's comments. .

thanks for your comments....

BTW, what do you mean by this statement ?   I realised that I hone my essays skills without other's comments..

I guess I should put a "cannot" between "I" and "hone"........:):)

• 8 months later...

hi, nsoonhui

Although I do not know whether you have finished your exam and will never come here again, I still want to post this.

I have read your essay and I think the example of Chinese situation you used is unconvicing and suittable. I do not know whether you have once been to China or read or hear something about the details, but I guess we Chinese are not in the way you depict towards such issues as history and democratic government. At least it is not the situation as you mentioned that most of us are credulous. I know exactly there are a lot of problems in Chinese social and political life, but I think it is not just because our foolish patriotic reverence for the history.

• 2 weeks later...

Does patriotic reverence for the history of a nation impede out progress? The issue statement asserts so. However, in my view, deference for our freedom fighters encourages us for doing progress. Moreover, study of history acts as tutelage in our real life. Therefore, I strongly disagree with the issue statement.

Firstly, we should be gratified of all our martyrs, who bravely sacrificed their lives for achieving independence. Their stories give us courage to fought against our daily life fallacies and adversities. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, a freedom fighter of India, strived hard for unshackling India from British government. His non-violence movement for getting independence shows his perseverance in extreme conditions. We should be obliged and respectful to all our patriots, because of whom we are breathing in a democratic nation.

Furthermore, respect for the history of nation help us for edifying the mistakes done by our ancestors. Revealing through history, we would understand that how insatiable lust for power and wealth would become the cause for destruction. For example, the tyrants like Hitler, who used to suppress people's feelings and opinions in long-term practice invariably resulted in downfall. Thus, respect for the history teaches us many things that we can implement in out real life. Therefore, patriotic reverence for history encourages us rather than impede.

Additionally, the culture and arts of which we are part now can be studied only through history. The drastic changes in human life are reflected through history. Study of history makes us cognizant about development in civilization and the efforts of our ancestors for making our lives comfortable. Knowledge of all these things initiates a feeling of respect within our hearts for our ancestors. Moreover, it fosters our spirits for the development of our nation.

In sum, patriotic reverence for the history of nation is not impediment for the progress but it contributes for the welfare of the nation. History is full of anecdotes, which insists us to think. Respect for the history of nation acts as a guide for us and renders path for our bright future.

• 2 years later...

bold_n_beast

Any one please can help me to understand the meaning of this topic:

"Patriotic reverence for the history of a nation often does more to impede than to encourage progress"

I have very throughly surveyed the meaning of each word in the literature and web, and none of them relate "patriotic reverence of history" with freedom fight, heoric acts of the ancestors or political endeavors. But almost all of the test-takers present take it in that way.

To my understanding, history is a very broader term, it includes our cultural traditions, our geographical history, language, social and economical past, scientific achievements, literature, etc. Please comment.

Seeking your guidance.

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493 Words Short Essay on Reverence

Find out what a man reveres and you have the key-note to his character. The religious man is one who reveres God, and he who reveres.

God will try to act up to his idea of the Deity, will despise all baseness and all meanness, and live a pure, honourable and virtuous life, because God represents for him all that is high and noble, and that which is contrary to the nature of God cannot find favour in his sight.

What should a boy revere? His religion first of all, because that is the guiding principle of his life and next to his religion, his parents and all those who have lived or are living noble and virtuous lives. The particular men or actions that he singles out for special reverence will no doubt depend partly on his bent of mind.

The budding soldier will make heroes of the great soldiers of history, the young scientist of those who have by their scien­tific studies enlightened the world. He who finds his delights in poetry and literature will honour the great poets and writers.

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Let us consider in what way the quality of reverence benefits mankind. The value of good deeds is self-evident. What spurs on men to do good deeds? The approval of their own conscience, the satisfaction of being of use in their world, are powerful motives; but the desire to win the respect of their fellows is an element that must be taken into account.

The power of reverence in the hearts of men is then a stimulus to others, and prompts them to act in such ways as will gain that reverence. Again, some men have the faculty of hero-worship more highly developed than others. Their nature seems to demand that they should single out some special individual for praise and imitation.

This faculty may he turned to a very valuable use. Teach a child to distinguish between what is bad and what is good, to recognize the value of patient unremitting toil, of high endeavour, lofty ideals, and suc­cessful achievements in an honourable cause, and he will naturally honour those who have lived and died in the service of their community. Those who are worthy of praise he will wish to imitate. His reverence for them will become a guiding principle.

There are men without reverence. They can see no good in any noble action. They will find or pretend to find an ignoble motive in every deed that wins the approbation of mankind in general.

Nothing is safe from their scoffs and jeers. Neither a sense of duty, nor filial love, nor self-sacrifice in any shape or form, can win a word of praise from their lips.

Spite, malice and envy are in their hearts and influence their actions. Their life is a burden to themselves and others. Let them be a warning to cultivate a spirit of reverence for all that is noble and of good repute.

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English Essay on “Reverence” English Essay-Paragraph-Speech for Class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 CBSE Students and competitive Examination.

• The character of a man depends on what he reveres; the religious man.
• A boy should be taught to revere God„ his, parents and those who live noble lives.
• The value of reverence. Hero-worship.
• The evils of irreverence.

Find out what a man reveres and you have the key-note to his character. The religious man, is one who reveres God, and he who reveres God will try to act up to his idea of the Deity, will despise all baseness and all meanness, and live a pure, honourable and virtuous life because God represents for him all that is high and noble, and that which is contrary to the nature of God cannot find favour in his sight.

What should a boy revere? His religion first of all, because that is the guiding principle of his life and next to his religion, his parents and all those who have lived or are living noble and virtuous lives. The particular men or actions that he singles out for special reverence will no doubt depend partly on his bent of mind. The budding soldier will make heroes of the great soldiers of history, the young scientist of those who have by their scientific studies enlightened the world. He who finds his delights in poetry and literature will honour the great poets and writers.

Let us consider in what way the quality of reverence benefits mankind. The value of good deeds is self-evident. What spurs on men to do good deeds? The approval of their own conscience, the satisfaction of being of use in their world are powerful motives; but the desire to win the respect of their fellows ‘is an element that must be taken into account. The power of reverence in the hearts of men is then a stimulus to, others, and prompts them to act in stitch ways as will gain that reverence. Again, some men have the faculty of hero-worship more highly developed than others. Their nature seems to demand that they should single out some special individual for praise and imitation. This faculty may be turned to very valuable use. Teach a child to distinguish between what is bad and what is good, to recognize the value of patient unremitting toil, of high endeavour, lofty ideals, and successful achievements in an honourable cause and he will naturally honour those who have lived and died in the service of their community. Those who are worthy of the praise he will wish to imitate. His reverence for them will become a guiding principle.

There are men without reverence. They can see no good in any noble action. They will find or pretend to find an ignoble motive in every deed that wins the approbation of mankind in general. Nothing is safe from their scoffs and jeers. Neither a sense of duty, nor filial love, nor self-sacrifice in any shape or form, can win a word of praise from their lips. Spite, malice and envy are in their hearts and influence their actions. Their life is a burden to themselves and others. Let them be a warning to cultivate a spirit of reverence for all that is noble and of good repute.

• Children must be taught reverence.
• Irreverence: a serious fault, due to unfortunate training or to conceit.
• Reverence must be paid only to objects worthy of reverence.

Ruskin used to say that the teaching of reverence should be an essential part of every child’s education. But he also pointed out that the faculty of reverence was innate in all human beings, and that the teaching of reverence meant simply the drawing out or developing, and the guidance, of this faculty. This can best be done through stories of heroic actions and good deeds, and the examples of noble and good men. Children are great hero-worshippers, and the chief thing in teaching them reverence is to put before them for their worship heroes who are worthy of their respect, admiration and imitation.

Irreverence is a serious defect in character. It may arise from an unfortunate experience in childhood. If a child is badly brought up and surrounded by mean and selfish and bad people, he may grow up to be a cynical man. Cynical means doubting the very existence of real honesty, unselfishness, heroism and virtue. A man who believes that all apparently good deeds are done from a bad motive and that no man is really honest and no woman really pure is a cynic: and a cynic reveres nothing. Such an attitude of mind is fatal and can produce nothing but unhappiness or a vicious life. Irreverence may also be due to conceit. A vain fellow, who thinks he is better and cleverer in every way than anyone else, will course acknowledge no one to be his superior, and so will not revere anyone. Such a man may be cured of irreverence if the conceit can be knocked out of him. “Most people, however, revere something or someone. But their reverence is often misguided. The savage kneeling down in awe and fear and worship before an idol of stone or wood is full of reverence; but he is in his blind ignorance, groping after some being whom he can revere and worship; and when the true God is revealed to him, he will turn away from his image and transfer his reverence to Him who alone is worthy of it.

We must learn to give reverence where reverence is due to God, and to real goodness, nobility and heroism in man: and we must also learn to despise all that is unworthy of reverence, such as all worldly success that is due to trickery, mere wealth, and brag. For to revere a man simply because he is rich, is to be no better than the savage worshipping an idol.

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