The annual Harris "heroes" poll, released again last week, asks Americans, "Who do you admire enough to call a hero?" Number one on the list? President Obama. Number two? Jesus. Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa round out the top 10.
Most commentators zeroed in on the fact that Obama placed ahead of Jesus, but in doing so, they missed many other noteworthy features of the list. It contains no scientists, and only two entrepreneurs (Oprah Winfrey at No. 20 and Bill Gates at No. 23). There is a preponderance of religious figures (Jesus, God, Mother Teresa and Billy Graham all rank in the top 13). Six of the 23 are minorities, and five are women. An entire column could be devoted to each of these observations alone, but what stood out above all these statistics is an ironic epiphany: Americans have no idea who their heroes are.
The 23 men and women named do have impressive accomplishments (with a notable exception or two). I cannot help but think, though, that the list is a product of respondents who, faced with a question they had never given much thought to, frantically cast around for the first big names they could think of. Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and MLK are easy answers, drilled into our heads from our earliest school days. While other responses -- see George W. Bush and Sarah Palin -- may be laughable, they don't require much thought. Both politicians have recently received enormous amounts of face time in the national media spotlight.
In fact, a recurring theme in the poll is the influence of popular culture and current events. Chesley Sullenberger safely landed U.S. Airways Flight 1594 in the Hudson on Jan. 15; the poll was taken from Jan. 12 to Jan. 19. As poll respondents groped for a response, Sullenberger's name was at the front of their minds. If the poll were taken today, just a month later, would Sullenberger still make the list? A look at the lists from previous years shows further proof of the short memory we have when it comes to our heroes. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Princess Diana are all former list members. No longer making headlines, these figures, whose "hero" designation was based on little substance in the first place, have quickly been dethroned.
If our conception of heroes is so changeable, and so simplistic, are those we designate as heroes really our heroes at all?
I think the answer, clearly, is no. Perhaps I have a different definition of hero than that relied on the Harris poll, but in my mind, the word hero connotes something greater than merely a person who performs heroic deeds. To me, a hero is someone who embodies the values and ideals that we hope to live by. To truly appreciate someone as a hero, we must understand the substance -- courage, intelligence, creativity and ideological commitment -- that makes him or her able to accomplish the great feats we admire. Genuine heroes are necessarily enduring, because their values and ideas are universal.
The enduring heroes that were named in the poll -- Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, MLK, etc. -- fit this definition of a hero, and I don't mean to cast doubt on their legacies by calling them easy answers. If these genuine heroes were elected to the list based on the same criteria by which Sarah Palin was chosen, however, then Americans have failed to appreciate the significance of these individuals' achievements. There is a difference between a man who prevented the dissolution of the United States of America while simultaneously expanding the nation's definition of freedom, and a woman who has performed satisfactorily in her role as a state governor, and ran as part of an unsuccessful presidential campaign.
The problem is partially the fault of the poll, which asked a fairly simplistic question, and didn't require respondents to make distinctions among their selections. Even in spite of these flaws, though, Americans would have been able to give far more thoughtful and substantive answers if they had given the question any thought. Naming genuine heroes would have been easy for respondents with a personal hero whose legacy influences the way they live.
The overarching lesson of the Harris poll is that we all need to give a little more thought to who our heroes are. Heroes provide examples of lives well-lived and value systems that work. To ignore these examples is wasteful and arrogant. There is a lot to be said for blazing one's own path in life, but doing so does not preclude gaining inspiration from someone who got it right.
