Winner vs. Hero

The battle rages on. Stakes, as always, are high. What hangs there in the balance is your mind, your soul, the heart of your actions, the core of your beliefs, the quality of your character. This war is fought over your story, the one you will live by, and the choices could not be more opposed. One one side of defining American narratives is that of "the winner." This belief system pits the individual against the world and the the world is seen as a dangerous place, something to be dominated and exploited. Our current president, like Ozymandias, paints this way of being as the ideal, and divides people into two classes: winners and losers. Winners fight and take home the prize and gorge themselves behind closed gates and guard dogs. Winners tend to be products of opportunity and privilege. On the other hand, another worldview grows out of the vision of "the hero." The hero sees him/her self as part of something bigger and works to mend social ills like injustice, bigotry, inequality. The hero meets the inner demons in order to serve others. The hero leaves the world a better place and becomes what most of us call great. In contrast, the winner often leaves a legacy of egoic grandiosity that ultimately becomes mean and petty and self-serving. On this day of remembrance of a great man, I offer this distinction with hopes that the America I love takes the hero path.