That word gets banded around a lot these days, usually describing some over paid jumped up sports man. I just watched a doco on the histroy channel on who I think is the Australian of the century. Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop. For those that don't know who this man is-Weary Dunlop

hear hear,
joey johns was a "hero" up until 6 months ago.
greg

All the VC fellas should get a mention

Agree in spades!!
Oft used to describe individuals who deserve no such recognition. IMHO it should be reserved for those truly heroic

Yes, one of my greatest hates is the missuse of the word 'hero' in our modern world.

My dictionary says that a hero is someone of "exceptional bravery", or "a person admired for superior qualities and achievements". But by superior qualities and achievements they are not talking about the number of wickets taken in a one-day series, or the number of sets won on the tennis court, or the number of Oscar nominations, they are talking about qualities such as selflessness, generosity, compassion, self-sacrifice and dedication to helping others, to name a few.

How anyone can refer to self-serving, overpaid and totally up-themselves sports persons, actors or so-called celebrities, as heroes is completely beyond me. The media pushes this 'hero' worship of celebrities for their own profits and it dismays me that the general public believes and follows that crap while the true heroes are often forgotten or completely ignored.

Gryph is right, those guys who won VCs are amazing heroes. When you visit the War Memorial in Canberra and wander through the section where all the VC winners, and their exploits, are on display, it is very humbling. I recommend such a visit to anyone - it is well worth the time.

However, to the list of heroes I would also add many of the other servicemen and women who have served their country in both war and peace. Some of these people are also true heroes when you consider the services they have performed and the conditions under which they carried out those services. Some of them earned lesser decorations and awards, but many others did not - which does not make them lesser heroes, just unrecognised ones.

I would also add firefighters to the list, as well as many doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers. Some members of the police force and organisations such as the SES, etc, also deserve the title of hero.

When you look at the off-field 'exploits' of many of our sports people and actors, there is no way that the title of hero can be applied to any of them. Drug-abuse, alcohol-abuse, violence, extra-marital affairs, greed, promiscuity and the generally immoral lifestyle of many of them means the the title of 'villain' is more applicable!

Gidday Bakes,

Right on the button mate.

These kids today worship celebraties (Spelling is intentional) and call them heroes, sportsmen included. They have done nothing that includes self sacrafice.

I saw a quote from an ex WW2 RAAF pilot who went on to play cricket for Australia when asked about how he handled the pressure of test cricket. He replied

Having a Me 109 up your arse is pressure, test cricket is nothing.

The kids these days have it too easy and we are the ones who have made it that way.

That is my take on it any way.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

I saw the show on Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop,i had never heard of him before this.

On the history channel Saturday nights there is program on V.C holders hosted by H.R.H Prince Charles.


Police here still have not found the V.C medals that were stolen late last year

Another thing that shits me is awarding Australian of the year to the likes of TV personalities or sportsman/women. While the poor old nurses working in the community hospitals get nothing. Or the old foster mum that has bought up 20 kids.

Here's the list
There's some in there I don't agree with, Alan Bond HA there's a top bloody choise

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hamish:
...I saw a quote from an ex WW2 RAAF pilot who went on to play cricket for Australia when asked about how he handled the pressure of test cricket. He replied
Having a Me 109 up your arse is pressure, test cricket is nothing.
[QUOTE]

Aust. actor Bud Tingwell flew Spitfires WWII, he seems to be one of the better adjusted more sensible actors Oz has produced. Erol Flynn was another person whos real life adventures in PNG, made the so called pressures of acting, a simple walk in the park for him...he was no pussy actor who hid under an umbrella from the midday sun either, he very much liked to do his own action scenes and did a fine job of it.
Lets not forget silver spoon asswipe Malcolm Frazer who put forward a no confidence vote on an Australian war pilot veteran prime minister John Gorton
As far as Oz of the YR goes, another glorified guitar twanger is all any country needs.

there are those for who the tough life makes all else easy, then there are those who have had the easy life(mostly hot air and vanity) from young but cant seem to cope(Heath Ledger,Michael Jackson,Paris Hilton,Britney Spears) I saw supermodel Sarah Ohare one day who was asked to flip a lamb chop on the BBQ in a promotional thing, she was at a total loss at how to do it. it was like she had been asked to do a brain surgery procedure...bear in mind it claims to be a mother, and will most probably be named OZ mother of the YR sooner or later.
Then there was Kylie Minogue who shared her battle with cancer and got paid to do so(what does the average struggling woman with cancer get?) and Minogue partly took over the running of private hospital she booked into, by using her mob of private security to illegally screen visitors that were coming to see other patients staying there at the same time.

Talking to a seemingly young fella(30yo)from Germany who spent several yrs educating himself in university, said the most critical things he learnt in life were in the first few minutes of his first encounter with serbian gunfire, that wizzed past his head when serving in German UN peace keeping forces,age 20...at the beginnig he said he was not much enthused to do his national service, but near the end of it, he found himself volunteering for two UN peace keeping missions without regret.

Couldn't agree more...

My granddad was decorated for his explots as a machine Gunner in WWI, and my Uncle was a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain, and later a recce pilot (in unarmed Spitfires) over Germany later in WWII... neither spoke much about their experiences, but my Uncle opened up a bit after ABC aired a program about just how brave the recce pilots were...

Lots of other relo's and friends saw combat in WWII, Malaya and VietNam....

Not quite as 'heroic' as making a few test centuries I guess... or making a movie...