I think of myself as not a hero

This is a quote from a young man in (I think) New York city, speaking of why he instinctively jumped in front of a running train to save an elderly woman who had fallen into its path. He went on to say, "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

I saw this on our local ABC noontime news show. I have searched their website for more info. Surely, before long, there will be something about it, or the ABC network will have something on it so I can give a fuller report.

In the meantime, it seems to me that such events are happening more often these days. I think of the young man who jumped on the would-be bomber on the plane coming into Michigan, who gave no thought to his hands as he pulled the burning explosive device from the "alleged" bomber.

These "everyday heroes," it seems to me, epitomize the mythological ideal at least as much as, if not even more than, those who are trained to take action.

Just me.

Ann

I believe you're right Ann. People react instinctively. If they took time to think, either it would be too late to act or they may decide not to take action.
Does one develop that instinct? Is it inbred?

Abe, you are hitting on something I am about to begin a deeper study on. In the meantime, if you haven't been there recently, take a look back at this page:

http://www.annjoiner.com/theherosjourney.htm

and see how you would answer your question, based on the ideas posted there.

Ann

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

alj wrote:

This is a quote from a young man in (I think) New York city, speaking of why he instinctively jumped in front of a running train to save an elderly woman who had fallen into its path. He went on to say, "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

I saw this on our local ABC noontime news show. I have searched their website for more info. Surely, before long, there will be something about it, or the ABC network will have something on it so I can give a fuller report.

Ann, This took place several weeks back. The young man was on the Today show and I believe Dateline did a feature also. He jumped in front of the train and held her down as the train passed over them.

Abe, Good question...Instinct, Inbred? I don't have an answer.

Don,

I think this is a different story, which makes it even more interesting, if so. I recall the story a few weeks back. I will have to catch this one again to be sure (It will likely be on this evening).

Ann

Ann,

Be nice to know they can come in bunches, like bananas!

1/14/2010

Ann..

That's a great story, I love when you read
the real human story , it belongs on the front pages
not these so called celebrities like Paris Hilton and all
the others who die if they don't get publicity...


Cheers...Joe

Ann,
That site provides lots of speculation, but nothing concrete.
If we're into guessing, I'd go with basic instincts. Animals in the wild don't read books, but survive on their instincts. They even sense/forecast bad weather.
Have you noticed how children who seemingly hate and fight each other come to their defense when threatened from the outside? Even my cats react that way.

I've noticed that, Abe. The UK is made up of four countries and we fight among ourselves constantly. When under attack we are as one and unstoppable.

Maybe there is a connection between the increase in heroic actions and this comment by Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth. TPOM originated as a PBS series during the late 80's, with Bill Moyers. Moyers and Campbell had been discussing death, and Campbell told of an essay by Schopenhauer, where the author asked, "how is it that a human being can so participate in the pain or peril of another that without thought, spontaneously, he sacrifices his own life to another?" Campbell tells of an incident that occurred a few years before the interview, in Hawaii. "One day, two policemen were driving up the Pali road, when they saw, just beyond the railing that keeps cars from rolling over, a young man, prepared to jump." This was a place where several people had previously committed suicide. One of the policemen jumped from the car, "...to grab the man, but caught him just as he jumped, and he was himself being pulled over when the second cop arrived in time and pulled them both back." Later, a reporter asked the policeman why he didn't "just let go" since he could so easily have died. The response was, "If I had let that young man go, I couldn't have lived another day of my life."

Campbell then gives Schopenhauer's answer: "...that such a psychological crisis represents the breakthrough of a metaphysical realization, which is that you and the other are one, that you are two aspects of one life, and that your apparent separateness is but an effect of the way we experience forms under the conditions of space and time. Our true reality is in our identity and unity of all life....Schopenhauer declares...you can see this happening every day...people doing selfless things to and for each other."

Moyers comments that, "...when Jesus says, 'love thy neighbor as yourself,' he is saying, in effect, 'Love your neighbor because he is yourself.'" And Campbell points out the universality of the concept by referring to the Sanskrit "bodisattva" as representing "the principle of compassion...the healing principle that makes life possible." Although the bodisattva had attained immortality, he[or she] "voluntarily participates in the sorrows of the world." He compares that to Paul's statement in "Philippians" that "Jesus 'did not think Godhood something to be held to, but took the form of a servant here on earth, even to death on the cross.'"

We are all part of the same Oneness. Maybe we are coming closer to a realization of that reality.

Ann

Abe F. March wrote:

Ann,
That site provides lots of speculation, but nothing concrete.
If we're into guessing, I'd go with basic instincts. Animals in the wild don't read books, but survive on their instincts. They even sense/forecast bad weather.
Have you noticed how children who seemingly hate and fight each other come to their defense when threatened from the outside? Even my cats react that way.

As I reread that page, Abe, I realized that it focuses on the hero's adventure itself, and doesn't go into the life of the hero as a child, or after the adventure is done and the hero returns home.

The mythical hero often has a childhood of crisis and abandonment. The memories of that intense pain contribute to the compassion that allows her to set her own needs aside in the service of others.

Ann

Ann,
you have made a study of this subject in writing "A Myth in Action" and have acquired certain insights.

After the fact analysis of a specific action can often be misleading if used as a cover-all answer. Having said that, I believe there is a oneness that unites us - a universal intelligence, and yet we are all unique. The things that make us unique are more easily identified.
Most likely there are other terms to describe the unidentified characteristics, but in my simple language I call them instincts that may come from that "oneness" you describe.

Abe F. March wrote:

Ann,
you have made a study of this subject in writing "A Myth in Action" and have acquired certain insights.

Actually, it's a bit the other way around. A Myth... was written as a result of my interest in, and study of, comparative mythology and the universal concepts shared by different cultures. I consider that study to be my life's work. Writing and teaching are my means of sharing any insights I may have come across.

Jung might say the instincts come from our "collective unconscious." The archetypes occurring in that shared unconscious would then be the source of our myths and hero concepts.

I think that any reconciliation of the differences in our unique selves can lead to that compassion for each other, allowing us to set the differences aside and act on the oneness.

Ann

Dear Ann,
A person needs hero's. Simple, everyday, hero's. Children are not the only one's who need hero's. It is best if real people are the hero. The hero has to be ordinary and face extra-ordinary problems or he would not be heroic. The setting of the story does not have to be special. It just has to be a place the reader can see through the words on the page. It might be a pasture in Duette or a street in Santa Fe.

The time is improtant, I think. The atomosphere.

I see so many movies that are in some big city. All big cities seem to be the same, the same mob rule, the same police, the same thugs, the same anger, the same crimes.

I have said it before. You have a wonderful mind that considers and has thought beyond most who think.

Love,
Betty

And the heroes don't have to be people - not two-legged human people, anyway. Wooffer and his friends are heroes, too.

Ann