The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a hero as a person who is admired for their great or brave acts or fine qualities while the Oxford dictionary describes a hero as a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities. A hero is kind, selfless and honourable and the word applies to both male and female.
In Greek mythology, the word hero comes from the Greek word ‘hērōs’ and literally refers to a “protector” or “defender” and was often associated with persons with superhuman qualities and strength such as Heracles with divine ancestry. Though the most widely used term for a hero is usually in reference to a war hero from military conquests or a fictional character and superhero as in most comics, it also refers to founding patriarchs and matriarchs of social justice causes and nations who have demonstrated commitment and sacrificed all for the sake of others. Heroes now abound in every field from science and technology to democracy and education.
Heroism is different from altruism and compassion and it is an activity with several parts mostly performed in service to people, groups or communities in need. It is a voluntary act that is performed with recognition of possible risks and costs, to one’s physical health or personal reputation, in which one is willing to accept anticipated sacrifice and without external gain anticipated at the time of the act. Simply put, heroism is a concern for other people in need—a concern to defend a moral cause, knowing there is a personal risk, done without expectation of reward.
Having established the above characteristics and traits of a hero, we can almost all agree that Nigeria is in short supply of men and women with such altruistic qualities. Our nation is bleeding from all sides and we are desperately in need of selfless, kind and honourable people, who put Nigeria first and self second. The big question is, where are they?
Where are our heroes?
The first stanza of our National Anthem is blessed with the words: “The labour of our heroes past, shall never be in vain” and aptly describes the men and women who paid the price for our independence and the nationhood we all enjoy today and laid the foundation for growth and development.
Heroes abound in everyday Nigerians who show up for one another, offer a helping hand and contribute to the wheel of progress that keeps the country going. The diligent carpenter, the honest trader, the committed public official, the hardworking student and the charismatic religious leader – all have something in common, altruism.
Pre-independence, Nigeria had heroes and heroines, who were totally committed to the unity, growth and development of the country. The likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Anthony Enahoro, Obafemi Awolowo, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Ahmadu Bello, and Margaret Ekpo to mention only a few. In recent times, we have been blessed with heroes like Dora Akunyili, Gani Fawehimi, Chinua Achebe, Michaeal Imoudu, Kudirat Abiola, Gambo Sawaba and Ameyo Adadevoh. These people lived the ethos defined by the Heroic Imagination Project that “The goal of heroism is to promote socially responsible behavior and actions that serve the greater good.”
Thankfully, we still have living heroes in Wole Soyinka, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Mohammed, Bahsir Umar (pilot who found and returned €37,000 in 2019), Josephine Ugwu (airport official who found and returned N3bn in 2015) and Imam Abdullahi Abubakar (Islamic cleric and humanitarian who saved 262 non-Muslims during an attack on his community by bandits).
Here today, gone tomorrow!
We are in dire need of heroes especially in public life in Nigeria. Sadly, many leaders in public office have failed and continue to fail us by putting self first and not exhibiting any of the qualities of a hero – kindness, selflessness and honour. Instead, we are plagued with persons of questionable character, many of whom we are afraid to eulogize or ascribe the toga of heroes because it is only a matter of time before they show their true colours and disappoint us hence the need to examine what makes some people inherently good and others bad.
According to a Stanford psychology professor emeritus Philip Zimbardo’s reflections on what makes us good or evil, he posits that “they’re actually two sides of the same coin.” Nearly half a century after the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment revealed how people placed in authoritarian roles can act atrociously, Zimbardo has turned his attention to a more heartening aspect of social psychology: heroism. “We know it’s easy to seduce ordinary good people to do bad things,” Zimbardo says. “Is it possible for ordinary people to be inspired and trained to be everyday heroes?”
Everyday, we are losing our erstwhile heroes to corruption, abuse and character deficits in politics, governance, social justice, religion and other critical sectors. We are inundated daily by the news of public officers and religious leaders who many held in high esteem but sadly, have now fallen short of the high pedestal they have been elevated to. It therefore beggars the question: what went wrong and how can we avoid such scenarios in the future? A key insight from research on heroism so far is that the very same situations that inflame the hostile imagination in some people, making them villains, can also instill the heroic imagination in other people, prompting them to perform heroic deeds. So each of us may possess the capacity to do terrible things. But we also possess an inner hero; if stirred to action, that inner hero is capable of performing tremendous goodness for others.
So, what makes us good? What makes us evil? Research has uncovered many answers to the second question: evil can be fostered by dehumanization, diffusion of responsibility, obedience to authority, unjust systems, group pressure, moral disengagement, and anonymity, to name a few. There is no scientific answer to the first question yet, apart from the fact that it may be because of their levels of oxytocin—research by neuroeconomist Paul Zak has shown that this “love hormone” in the brain increases the likelihood you’ll demonstrate altruism. We don’t know for sure. Perhaps love for country and people can drive patriotism and heroism?
Calling for Heroes
Heroes are not born, rather, we are all born with this tremendous capacity to be anything, and we get shaped by our circumstances—by the family, culture or the time period in which we happen to grow up, which are accidents of birth; whether we grow up in a war zone versus peace; if we grow up in poverty rather than prosperity. It is also possible to overcome the circumstances of our birth and upbringing to become better. George Bernard Shaw captured this point in the preface to his great play “Major Barbara”: “Every reasonable man and woman is a potential scoundrel and a potential good citizen. What a man is depends upon his character and what’s inside. What he does and what we think of what he does depends on his circumstances.”
Our quest for heroes as a society therefore must be sincere and intentional to applaud heroism rather than villainy. According to the Heroic Imagination Project, heroes surround us and one in five persons qualify as heroes – that’s 20% of us. Education, opportunity, gender, volunteering and personal history matter in the quest for heroes. Between these extremes in the bell curve of humanity are the masses—the general population who do nothing, who Zimbardo calls the “reluctant heroes”—those who refuse the call to action and, by doing nothing, often implicitly support the perpetrators of evil. Sadly, many of us fall into this category where all we do is condemn and castigate those who have offered themselves to public service especially when they fail while we ourselves do nothing.
That’s why we need to begin to cultivate in ourselves, especially amongst our young people the quest for altruism and heroism. To get us back on track and bring to life many nascent heroes in our nation, we need heroes who are not bound to ethnic, religious, personal or selfish affiliations.
