Heroes abound….How much we have adored our childhood heroes who went beyond all human limitations and imaginations and did miraculous things. A whole gamut of comic characters ruled our childhood …The phantom, Tintin, Mandrake the magician, Don Quixote and the likes…A whole generation of kids in the recent past have grown with  episodes of Harry Potter !  All of them  invariably were good Samaritans and helped the needy and stood for justice and as a friend of  the common man.

The story of the True Man

As time went by, the literary heroes came in a mighty order.. Take the life of Alexey Maresyev ( the story was published in Tamil as the “Unmai Manithanin Kathai”- The story of the True Man), the second world war hero, even after loosing both his legs, went back again to battle with artificial legs to engage in a dog fight  and shot down enemy aircraft. As they say, there are old pilots, there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots, but Alexey did……The remarkable life of this man  made many an young one aspire  to be a pilot officer. Pavel Korchagin ( of “Veeram Vilainthathu” in Tamil-  “How the steel was tempered”) had profound influence in the minds of a generation of youngsters. There was no limitation of such heroes as many as the number of books published added with the movie stars who were surreally handsome and good. There are few who in their youth have not equated themselves  with “Howard Roark” of the “Fountainhead” for a free world. Equal numbers have searched and yearned to know : “ Who is John Galt ?” ( of Atlas shrugged )  one hero to survive  beyond the nineteenth century to be made hero of another movie now. The angry young man of yester year movies (in the form of the great Amitab Bachan) reflected the general anger and revulsion we all faced during our youth against our unjust society and the real life  contradictions we slolwly realized which was the actual truth of every day life. Truth dawned on us slowly that real life crushed any element of hero with  its brutal tentacles unlike in a story or movie.

The hero

Who was my hero during my youth , other than those mentioned above? My father was a hero to me because of the incredible discipline he had adapted from the British Raj. My birth in a Christian family introduced many biblical heroes like Moses, Gideon, David and others. The charisma of many of the heroes looked as vanity as the time passed by and as  stark realities and limitations of every day life set in. However, more identity was obtained with Philip Carey  (“of human bondage” fame) as the powerful projection of real life hero like Philip Carey who  took on the evils and contradictions of real life, despite  being  a non-hero !. The hero was portrayed with a limp in the leg among other things. I used to tremble reading each line of this book as the boy moved in his life without compromise and loosing his goodness only  finally to be blessed. The general sarcasm of a born optimist like Somerset Maughm produced many such heroes in all his works like “The moon and six pence”, “The collected short stories”, The Razor’s edge..etc.,  But as Maughm himself grudgingly admitted, the invention of the airplane changed all the settings of life and took away the element of surprise caused due to time lags and absence of people on long voyages.

Well, the airplane, the internet and the mobile phone and such technologies have made a paradigm shift in our daily lives, outlooks and also our conception of a hero over time. Today’s hero is virtually an antithesis of the hero of yesteryears and whatever surrealist heroes invented during the 19th and 20th centuries have disappeared. Today’s hero is not of six pack, or tall, dark and handsome or valiant man of war who will face a lion or the tyranny of a regime alone. Today’s hero is a fast moving , techsaavy, unattached young man (or girl) who moves swiftly, unfettered, and slices through the fabrics of society like a razor and enjoys the happiness or sorrow of each moment. This hero lives only for this moment and is not bothered either about his past or his future.. Today’s hero does not look forward to his ultimate self of ecstasy  in the form of a movie star or comic or in a fiction but has learnt to live without time for any of these due to disappearance of the joint family, absence of elders to inculcate fascination through their stories in childhood or  interfere (guide?) and the differentials of space and time living in various societies in short cubicles of time due to their work. Today’s hero is a non hero as he  more or less has no aspiration for a hero and if he wants, he can flex his muscles in the majestic and mighty web portals, where the society’s tentacles can not  crush him any more. Suddenly, the long sought after freedom has been found and exploded in limitless space of the mobile and  the internet medium. Or it appeared so !         

Inner self in the real sense.

A   close look at today’s youth may reveal a different picture of this new pinnacle of self elevation  or nirvana. Go and chat closely with the school or college going student, the young adult and the middle aged, you are surprised to come out with boundless stories of yearnings for the real love and affection, the search for the beloved, the dear, the trustworthy, the faithful, the REAL HERO,  to whom you can look upon for guidance, on whom you can really lean on and tell your similitudes of issues without fear of recourse or loosing your self esteem. Despite the avenues unleashed by face book, the twitter, the SMS , the skype or any other technology which can link you with anyone of your choice instantly online beyond the barriers of space and time, I understood that these however can not link your soul and inner self in the real sense.

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became  a man, I put away childish things” ( The Holy Bible – I Corinthians 13:11)

Who can be our real hero ?  A hero should be worthy of it.  He should be capable of doing magnificent  things, A hero will be extremely handsome. A hero will do good things and a friend of people. A hero instantly comes to the rescue of the small and weakened. A hero is immortal. But  all my childhood and youth heroes existed in the minds of their creators or any real heroes were totally inaccessible who could be seen only miles away or through the media. They can never be your true Hero      i.e   your personal hero. 

I know of a hero who has all the above qualities. He is immortal. He is my true friend. He is accessible all the time. In fact he had come to the doorstep of my heart and knocked the door. He is the most handsome and my beloved ( My beloved is like a roe or a young hart – Songs of Solomon 2:9). He did  not see my face but has seen my heart, my soul. He is the most trustworthy with whom I can share all my heart, without loosing my self esteem. He laughs with me when I laugh and comforts me  when I am  in misery. He has  brought HIS eternal peace into my soul. He has taken away all my wrong doings, and he has borne all my diseases. For me, He became the haunted one and He  suffered and died for me. I can see Him, touch Him, speak to Him any time and anywhere. He is my only hope, my life, my destiny, my friend, my beloved, my dearest, my daddy, my father and my LORD.

He is Jesus Christ.

He is MY HERO !

“For thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth.” ( Psalms 71 :5)

Accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour today.

 Celebrate YOUR  HERO.