Heroes Still

Why our heroes can (and should) have flaws

People will always have heroes. They serve too many functions: they give us hope, inspiration, wisdom, guidance, positive emotions, and the list goes on. In short, heroes play a vital role in helping us survive and thrive in life, and what is even more amazing is that even the memory of our heroes can continue to provide these benefits.

This is what, I feel, gives us the notion that our heroes must be an infallible breed. It is a mirage, of course, because real live heroes are human like us and as such, inherently flawed.

Nevertheless, when eventually confronted with proof of their human failings, instead of acknowledging their strength and achievements despite their imperfections, we experience a wide range of negative emotions: disappointment, disillusionment, and even a sense of loss.

This has to stop. And the way it does is that it should become wholly acceptable to us that we can have heroes with imperfections.

“What is even more amazing is even the memory of our heroes can continue to provide these benefits.”

When we see our heroes struggle and fail it should humanize them in our eyes- that they come with flaws should make them more relatable. Flawed heroes teach us that imperfections need not be stumbling blocks, but they can be stepping stones towards self-improvement.

This is also where our empathetic nature should kick in, allowing us to see their struggles as a mirror reflecting our own vulnerabilities, and so we recognize that those we admire and perhaps seek to emulate are facing their own battles. The more we appreciate this, the more empathetic individuals we become, the broader our perspective, and the more personal growth we experience.

“Research shows that just remembering our heroes can do the job for us. Nostalgia for past heroes, both living and dead, can produce these 12 benefits of heroism”-Scott T. Allison Ph.D., author of Heroes and Heroic Leadership.

We will always have heroes to help us get through our challenges, to survive and thrive. And even though people now seem fixated on perfection, the notion that our heroes' imperfections do not diminish their worth is more crucial than ever.

Apart from the valuable lessons in resilience, empathy, and critical thinking we learn from acknowledging heroes' flaws, they remind us that greatness is not necessarily contingent on flawlessness, but on the ability to confront, learn from, and rise above human imperfections, and perhaps that is our biggest takeaway.