I’m seeing headlines honoring the health care workers and others “on the front lines” in the “COVID battle”, and it never fails to amaze me how narcissistic & bullshit our society can be.

A “hero” is someone who goes ABOVE & BEYOND the call of duty AND puts their health and/or life on the line for another.

Using that definition, a “hero” would be a soldier who throws himself on a grenade, or rushes through enemy fire to knock out a bunker position & save the lives of his fellow soldiers.  It would also include a cop who put himself in a dangerous position to stop an armed felon when he couldn’t wait for backup to arrive.  It would also include a fireman who goes into a burning building to try and save someone when he’s been ordered out of it by his superior.

A “hero” would NOT be someone who is simply doing their normal job, such as a cop who’s making his rounds & is killed by a perp, or a fireman who is fighting a typical fire and gets killed when the structure collapses unforeseen, or a soldier who gets killed in a typical firefight or their plane goes down due to enemy fire.  These are all occurrences that can happen in the normal course of their job, they’re paid to confront these risks & expected to confront them as part of their normal job description, and they knew these risks going in.

Health care workers deal with sick people every day.  It’s their job to do so.  Treating patients who are seriously sick & dying is not a heroic act & doesn’t make them heroes.  It’s part of their normal job description.  This includes all types of health care workers as well as EMT ambulance workers, paramedics, and anybody who is dealing with the COVID-19 virus as part of their normal job description.  The fact that they’re working extra hours is part of the job description sometimes and they’re getting paid to do all of the above.

This is just another way for a segment of our society to elevate themselves for their own gratification AND for getting elevated simply for acknowledging them . . .

There’s also another segment of our population that likes to lift people up for kudos who shouldn’t be lifted up simply for doing their job they’re paid to do, and they do it simply because they want people to look at them as being important simply by identifying these people who shouldn’t be made to be special in the first place, or who the entire world already knows is special.  Take for instance the reporters who create these stories to get you to read the articles about these so-called health care heroes.  There also people who honor those who engage in a so-called charity running event who have managed to turn the spotlight away from those in need & shine it on themselves for the petty act they’re providing, which is winning a race that their family & friends donated to strictly to make them feel better.  There’s also those who are constantly saying “Support The Troops” like this is still 1969 Vietnam War era and make you think there’s a large percentage of Americans who don’t support the troops.  I’d venture to say that  99+% of Americans do in fact support & respect our troops, and many times, the people saying it have a personal stake in it, like veterans or those related to or married to active personnel.  It’s grandstanding strictly to shine a light on themselves as being supreme in their recognizing of others.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m very happy people voluntarily join the military, police, fire dept, health care field, and who do a job most people can’t & won’t do, and I respect them & I’m grateful they do it, but they’re getting paid to do it & they know what they’re getting into.  If you ask me, we don’t give enough thanks to people who do other essential jobs like working on oil rigs, truck drivers, garbagemen, etc, because these essential jobs are not seen as being special, but they are special as the other jobs done by lots of other people all over America that’s needed for society to function — it just isn’t as glamorous as asking people to “Support the troops” or “First responders”.