Greetings !
In the modern "western" world a hero is a person
who gives his own life or puts him/herself in life
threatening or material danger in an attempt to save
or benefit other people's lives. Evil people
are considered to be the ones who try to inflict
damage upon the lives or property of regular people.
If the damage inflicted upon evil people by heroes
is relativly reasonable compared to the damage the
evil people tried to inflict and if the hero has
attempted to do the least required damage to the
evil person to stop him then everything's O.K. .
Another image of heroes in western society is that
of successful - rich and influential people who've
managed to gain their money and influence by themselves.
In "eastern" societies a hero is a person who devotes
his life to co-existence witht the world and the seeking
of enlightment.
In Cristianity a hero - saint is a person who devoted
his life to helping others in non-violent ways, that
is - without harming other people's lives or property
in the process.
In the modern Muslim societies the hero for the
majority is a person who gave his life or property
to harm the infidels. The type of infindels is ussualy
unimportant since mostly all infidels are considered
to be enemies of Islam by the majority in today's
Muslim societies.
In Jewdaism a hero is a person who devoted his life to
the study of the Tora and the other ancient writings
and who is thus most fluent and knowledgeable in them.
Another image of heroes that some people (aspecialy
on PF, I hope) accept is that of great scientists,
engeneers, inventors and highly proffesional
people in general.
Live long and prosper.
