Why does anyone need to find heroes in the first place and where do you look for them? While this may sound like a bad cliché, but everyone needs heroes. A psychologist might be better suited to elaborate on the reasons thereof; briefly heroes are inspirational and bring out the best within us. History is more about heroes and villains rather than about normalcy and phenomenon.
Ancient history is replete about war heroes such as Achilles and Hector in the Trojan War and where history could not placate hero worship; myths and legends took over in the form of Hercules and King Arthur. Each civilisation had their own heroes, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Chinese in short each and every one, which was logical since your enemies heroes were villains in your dictionary.
Interestingly, until the 20th century, societies continued to choose heroes from the annals of conflicts. The mighty maintained their hegemony over mind and matter. This monopoly was probably facilitated by man's innate desire to be a superman and there have been sufficient wars, including world wars, to feed our fascination with warriors.
Curiously, the quality of life has improved not because of warfare or combatants, but because of scientists, philanthropists, entrepreneurs and visionary leaders. But somehow the world generally has been miserly in acknowledging such men as heroes. Guttenberg is acknowledged as the father of mechanised bookmaking leading to storage and mass communication of knowledge, the shoulders on which future inventors stood. Forget general populace a vast majority of students might not be aware of the debt they owe him, let alone granting him hero status. How many of us are even aware of the fact that it was Steve Watt's steam engine which brokered in the industrial revolution.
Don't get me wrong. Men who lay down their lives for their nation and freedom of their countrymen deserve to be given the highest accolades. But aren't those whose endeavours have made the world a better place to live, also worthy of recognition? If everyone aspires to be a soldier, than the world shall always be at war. If school curriculums focus on martyrs only, future generations will cherish opportunities to prove their worth in the battlefield and we will be destined to be a developing nation forever.
Subsequent to World War II, the search for heroes expanded into other disciplines, probably in response to the brutality and mass destruction associated thereto. Unfortunately, our continuing fixation with superman limited the pursuit to athletes and actors. The age of celebrity worship was upon us. Note however that we were loath to accord them hero status and coined the word celebrity, only soldiers are heroes. Nonetheless, if every child aspires to be a cricketer, we as a nation are worse off.
While there is a view that his guilt for gifting the world dynamite may have been the primary reason, Alfred Noble deserves credit for introducing prizes for peace and science. Even than it has taken an entire century for the world to digest that achievement other than physical can be deserving of medals.
The transition has however been difficult. Consider that Albert Einstein is not on the Times Man of the Year list since 1927. Leaders managed to fascinate us with their charisma more than genius could. Amazingly even in this case vision was judged on the basis of conquests. Once again gladiators and entertainers consumed our imagination.
In the last decade or so however, the west at least might have learned its lesson, probably due to the information age. Amusingly "The Computer" was times Man of The Year for 1982. Intriguingly, peacemakers, inventors and entrepreneurs managed to slip in thereafter. The criticism that Times men of the year are not heroes is valid, but hero veneer has definitely changed in the west. While Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Marc Zuckerberg fuel their superman syndrome, greedy financial barons are the villains.
As the world moves on, who are our heroes? A selected sample of the population may be able to list the recipient's of Nishan-e-Haider and a couple of nuclear scientists as heroes in response to this question, but that's where it will end. A few might even include athletes and actors but will agree that they fall in the celebrity category. As an uncomfortable afterthought the Father of the Nation might just be give due recognition beyond which any encouragement will be met by a blank stare.
Reducing the time horizon down to the last two decades provides zilch. There are no current heroes whom our youngsters can relate to, other than a few athletes mostly tainted by corruption. The driver of communication in Pakistan, electronic media, somehow cannot look beyond intrigue, corrupt politicians and narcissist self projection. Admittedly, there is an annual award giving ceremony at the highest office but that is hardly the forum to judge heroism.
To clarify, yes there are a few social workers who are widely recognised in the country but they are hardly projected as heroes. Hero genre exudes an aura which stimulates a desire to imitate. The biggest sell for joining military service is an opportunity to be a hero, after all soldiers lead the list. Fame and fortune cannot ensure alleviation to the cherished pedestal.
Unless we are a nation of under achievers, we need to broaden our horizon in searching for heroes. Sadly the only Pakistani noble laureate is vanishing from our memories. Why shouldn't winning the Noble prize be an attribute to emulate? Do we even have scientists who have a shot at this coveted title? If so where are they and what have we done to facilitate them? Nations grow on technology.
Educationists are responsible for our future. Contrarily, we have a belligerent attitude towards the very people that educate our children. Who amongst us desires that his child be a future educationist? Disturbingly the margin of error is zero if you are a teacher. Bad teachers are immediately subjected to media bashing. On the other hand none appreciate dedicated committed teachers. This state of affairs ensures that only the bottom of the class opts for this noble profession and that too by necessity rather than choice. Imagine they are the very ones who are shaping our future.
What about our entrepreneurs, those responsible for creating employment and national wealth. Curiously, wealthy people invoke jealousy strongly. Globally, businessmen are molded as greedy and selfish. Pursuit of wealth is acceptable for one's self but not for others. But on the same argument do we not want our children to be wealthy businessmen? Maybe not, since we are the nation which targeted the 22 families in the 70s and continue to harass them all the time. Why are there no Pakistanis in the Forbes list of the richest 100? Probably because we would either shame them, tax them or put them in jail. Risk takers are a breed apart and we as a nation need to nurture and be proud of our own.
It is high time that we identify the right role models for our kids beyond soldiers and sportsmen, if we desire to nudge our future in the right direction. People who have dedicated their lives towards constructive pursuits need to be positively projected endlessly to create an atmosphere which begets awe and respect. Only then will there be more of them. In the best interest of our nation let us tread alien paths for finding heroes.