HawthorneVillager.com

With respect to the miners...

1. The actual miners. Victims, survivors, not heroes.
2. The 6 people who went that that tube to help rescue the miners... heroes.

At least 2 different newscasts today called the miners heroes, with only a passing mention to the rescuers. The miners were trapped, they survived. However, it cheapens the word hero to an unbelievable degree to apply it to those miners.

Now, the first rescuer who went into the metal coffin and lowered himself into the unstable mine... that guy is a hero.

Victims are not heroes. Office workers at the world trade center were not heroes, but the firefighters were. A cop who gets into a car accident is not a hero, but a cop who runs into a school during a shooting rampage is. A man who runs into his burning house to save his child is not a hero, but a stranger who does the same thing is. The guy who jumps into an icy river to save someone is a hero. The person who stops his car on the highway to help an old man with dementia limping between lanes is a hero.

Victims deserve sympathy, heroes deserve accolades.

A hero kills people, people that wish him harm. A hero is part human and part supernatural. A hero is born out of a childhood trauma, or out of a disaster, and must be avenged.