Heroes and hero worship

"Heroes and hero worship" comes from Thomas Carlyle's 1841 book, published in England. Carlyle lost friends because he believed in having heroes, not a popular notion among Victorian intellectuals. Most people in contemporary North Idaho probably oppose hero worship; having heroes is quite a different matter.

Among my heroes is my father, who died in the 1970s. He was a linotype operator and later president of his union. Educated at Northwestern University, he knew a lot about languages - French, Latin and Greek; an "English only" Kootenai County would have baffled him. In science, geology was his strong suit, but he knew a little about everything, especially math. He majored in liberal arts but his degree came from the School of Commerce; heroes are mysterious characters. My father's father, also a printer/publisher, was my dad's hero. My father was the finest editor I ever met but he said his dad was better; I hope the trend continues. Neither Dad nor Gramps ever won an Olympic medal (though Gramps held the Big Ten walking race record for decades) or saved anyone's life or got a Nobel Prize; but they had integrity, worked hard, and loved their families which is good enough for a special status hero award from this loving son and grandson.

The English professor who directed my dissertation, a first generation Armenian named Arra Garab, is another of my heroes. What a mind! He remembered everything he had ever read and desired passionately to share that knowledge with students. In retirement, he became an Episcopal priest and served a small parish in northern Illinois. Arra knew everything about literature that was important, plus French, German, Latin (both medieval and classical, he pointed out), Spanish, Armenian and who knows what else. We spent hundreds of hours together and he treated me as an intellectual equal even though he knew a lot more than I did. I doubt he ever held anything back and I am a different person because of his influence. So, he also achieved hero status in my life.

I have named two of my heroes; young people nowadays seem to have none at all. For many years, I taught Joseph Heller's masterpiece, "CATCH-22," to hundreds of college students. The novel dramatizes bad things about modern life - incompetence, dehumanization, excessive rule making, avarice and so forth. One character, Doc Daneeka, is a corrupt, self-seeking and incompetent medical doctor. During the 1970s, I worked hard to convince my students that bad doctors like Daneeka existed; during the 1980s I had to work equally hard to convince my students that there were good doctors out there who mainly wanted their patients to get better. One generation of students accepted doctors as heroes and the next rejected them altogether. I won't comment on students in the '90s. They live too close to Hayden.

Carlyle thought heroes' lives should be examined thoroughly; after his death a few unpleasant details of his life came out, but he would have applauded that process. Not long ago, historians who explored unsavory aspects of lives of American heroes like Washington, Jefferson and Franklin were assailed as commie pinkos, intent on undermining American values. We see vestiges of this protective attitude in attacks on modern public school curricula in Coeur d'Alene and elsewhere. It is almost as though some people do not think American history, values and heroes can withstand rigorous inspection.

We need to examine heroes if we have none, perhaps we are too cynical. If we worship them, we are probably nave. Between those extremes, we might find truth, if we are persistent.

Tim Hunt, the son of a linotype operator, is a retired college professor and nonprofit administrator who lives in Hayden with his wife and three cats. He can be reached at linotype.hunt785@gmail.com.