The Honors Platform
Vol I, Issue I, Spring 2013
52 affirmed that the things that bothered him “were over,” and his gratitude, arguably the most important of all, let Houghton know that he had “done some good, had been useful, could die knowing that [his] life had, within its small context, meant something” (Houghton 20). Hear that? Meant something. Heroism.
But what if someone has not felt heroic yet? What if they have not satisfied their heroic need? What if
they have not “accepted” their fate? That answer may lie in a theory called “The 5 Stages of Grief.” Developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross after interviewing hundreds of the terminally ill, the Five Stages of Grief proceeds as follows: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance (On Death... 34). The stage that gives the dying another opportunity at heroism is bargaining. Whether the bargain is for extended life or the chance to be heroic one first and last time, this step on the path to acceptance is often “an attempt to postpone” death (On Death... 73). I believe that the deals a dying man makes are not just a postponement, but could also be a last ditch effort to be a hero. Take the opera singer Ross interviewed: a malignant tumor disfigured her jaw, yet all she desired was “to perform just one more time” (On Death... 73). She settled on regaling Ross and her students with “her life story, her success, and her tragedy” (to fill her narcissistic need for heroism, to matter one more time (On Death... 73). Of course, there is always “one more time.” The singer in question “could not live without further performances” and left the hospital before proper treatment could be administered (On Death... 73). This is the relation between mortality and heroism, catalyzed by a terminal disease. All of humanity, every person, lives to run to the golden figure, the promise of heroism. But whether they reach it or not, death always consumes them.
The Psychology of the Hero-System Society
Now that the relation between heroism and mortality has been established, it is plain to see that heroism
is not all about the glory and saving lives. Heroism, as constructed by each hero-system society, is a spectrum with two ends: low heroism and high heroism, the coal miner and Buddha (Becker 5). The terms “low” and “high” heroism do not reflect the importance of the hero; all heroes are important. Rather, these terms reflect the level of influence a hero has on society. For example, Buddha has more influence on society than a coal miner does. But what causes someone to be a “low hero” instead of a “high hero?” The entirety of humanity is promised the same nothingness of death, the multiple paths to that end, though that should not contribute the degree of heroism granted to a person. Society plays a role in determining levels of heroism, but it only measures the