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Russell Collins: What Makes a Hero?
The helicopter images of the Jesusita Fire on Wednesday night brought back powerful memories from the Tea Fire — the swirling violence of the firestorm, its stealth and unpredictability as it spreads through the community, the sense of lives about to be tragically altered.
The image that struck me most from the coverage was the video of a solitary firetruck parked at the end of twisting street, and a row of pixel-sized figures lined up at the back of a canyon facing an approaching wall of flames. They seemed puny and inadequate to the task of protecting the houses and the street behind them — and so completely vulnerable to the cagy, skittering flames.
At any moment, the fire could wrap around and cut off their retreat. I’m not sure what happened to the houses — the TV images get shuffled pretty quickly. I know the firefighters are safe because TV news is reporting no deaths or serious injuries so far.
I can’t avoid the comparison: With the financial sector “Stress Tests” coming due Thursday, news of the fire competes on Reuters and CNN for space with stories of investors and creditors squabbling with regulators to hold on to the largest share of the pie. According to the news, lobbyists are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the bank executives will get to keep their jobs and their bonuses, whatever numbers come out in the next few days, and that campaign contributions will continue to flow to those politicians willing to vote for the financial industry agenda, even at taxpayer expense.
That may be overly harsh. Certainly there are noble politicians in Washington fighting for what’s right and bankers who care about more than just maximizing profits. But even the good ones come out poorly on a scale that weighs the altruism of their efforts against the courage of the thin line of firefighters risking their lives to protect our community. If the titans of finance lined up shoulder to shoulder to fight the economic downturn for the good of the country and its people — with no regard for their own financial safety — would the future even be in doubt? Maybe that question is naïve. Business is not firefighting, after all.
How about this question: What variation in character, education or environment causes one group of professionals to spend their lives putting everything on the line for the common good, while another group gambles recklessly with the common good for a shot at personal gain?
It’s not an idle question. Philosophers at least since Plato have speculated about the nature of the good man vs. that of the selfish one. More recently, Freud and Darwin built elaborate theories for the altruistic or self-sacrificing behavior of humans and other animals, along with their better known ideas about selfishness. Among contemporary thinkers — such as Dacher Keltner, director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory — there is increasingly a trend to think holistically about biology, psychology, spirituality and culture in an effort to have meaningful conversations about human happiness.
What explains our tendencies to think beyond our narrow self interests in reaching for a satisfying life? How do we educate our children to be happy? What is the biology of self-sacrifice? My own take from Keltner’s writing (his recent book is titled Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life) is that generosity and altruism have a biological basis, but that parenting, education and environment can cause these qualities to flourish or wither. Financiers and firefighters are made, not born, in other words.
Here is a smattering about what Keltner has to say about happiness and altruism:
» Discussions about gratitude — in classrooms, at the dinner table or in your diary — boost happiness, social well-being and health.
» Experiences of reverence in nature improve people’s sense of connection to others and their sense of purpose. The same is true when others are morally inspired by our words or actions.
» Laughing and playing in the face of trauma gives a person perspective about life’s inevitable difficulties and improves resilience and adjustment.
» Devoting resources to others, rather than indulging our materialist desires, brings about lasting well-being.
While he says nothing about financiers or firefighters, Keltner clearly comes down on the side of reverence, generosity and gratitude in defining a happy life. To stand in the line of fire for others is an act of generosity that makes no sense in an economy of pure self-interest. Yet, it contributes to a sense of well-being that no amount of money or power can bring. To be heroic is to be happy, he seems to be saying, which might help to explain the row of tiny figures, at the end of a twisting road, facing a wall of flames.
It’s 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, and according to reports, three firefighters have been airlifted out with injuries. I pray for the recovery of these firefighters, and for the safety of the men and women who will watch over us as we sleep.
— Russell Collins is a Santa Barbara psychotherapist and divorce mediator. Click here for more information.
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» on 05.08.09 @ 01:18 AM
I think Russ is accurate when he describes the high quality make up of the firefighters. I would suggest that an additional component that contributes to this positive character is the culture of firefighting and the reward/incentives for behavior that are built in that culture which in turns brings out the best in these men & women. Individuals function in context.
Best,
Bob Pohl
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» on 05.08.09 @ 08:06 AM
“Imagine a world where the titans of finance show the same selflessness and courage as our firefighters.” And that would make some sense if it was the job of ‘Titan of fiance’to put out fires. I know all I need know of you with this statement, “Devoting resources to others, rather than indulging our materialist desires, brings about lasting well-being.” You don’t qualify how much resource one need devote nor do you explain what ‘indulging our materialist desires’ means? Is this based on your Socialist ideals? And last time I checked, the CA firefighters and their “devoting resources” while collecting union wages and get full retireement at 40 with cost of living raises help to flush CA down the toliet. I’m glad I left that state. SB used to be a beautiful place until the Socialists and hippy-ilk over ran it. Good luck with your fires. I wish you all the best but I wish you would move to NV.
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» on 05.08.09 @ 01:59 PM
Isn’t that sweet. Here’s the thing you socialists continue to fail to understand. There isn’t a fixed pie of wealth. It isn’t a matter of a pie of fixed size and if the “wealthy” get a larger part of it, then there must be someone else getting little or none. The pie changes in size depending on how much wealth is being produced by people with innovative ideas and hard work. The thing that makes this country great is that everyone has a crack at it.
If the pie is bigger, then everyone benefits proportionally, including more revenue to the government in the form of taxes, more wealth to charities, more benefactors. More pie, more for everyone. Yes maybe some get a larger percentage, but what is your problem with that? They work hard for it and apply their skills and provide jobs for others who are less innovative, creative or ambitious.
What you want is for there to be no reward for innovation and hard work which makes the pie grow. With socialism nobody has incentive therefore everyone starves. What is your problem with someone getting wealthy when they are the ones providing jobs for the ones who do not apply their gifts and work hard? You want no jobs for everyone and everyone depending on the government instead, which is sustainable only as long as the government has revenue.
You want to rob mankind of incentive and reward. Eventually, there is no pie left, because who wants to be the only one working their butt off to provide taxes to provide for government jobs or handouts? Eventually there is no wealth, no wealthy people providing jobs, no wealthy people being charitable, no revenue to the government and everyone is worse off. Your problem is class envy, when you claim the problem is “greed”. You are going to destroy the economy of this great country with your ideas, as is already happening now and has happened to every single country who believes in big government socialism. Get a job and give your money to the poor if you really care about them! Stop looking for a handout from the “wealthy” before you destroy them and there is nobody to provide revenue and handouts!!
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» on 05.08.09 @ 02:27 PM
So according to you sweetcheeks, a hero is someone who works his tail off just from the goodness of his or her heart with no reward for everyone else who prefers just to sit on the couch and take in government checks and live in public housing?
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» on 05.08.09 @ 02:37 PM
Let’s see, work my butt off for nothing, sit on the couch and do nothing…work my butt off for nothing, sit on the couch and do nothing…work my butt off for nothing, sit on the couch and do nothing…
I guess we end up with a nation of couch potatoes. That’s probably exactly what you want so they can sit on your couch and pay you to tell you about their depression because they no longer have any incentive to do anything. They will no longer have that sense of purpose you speak of, because their only purpose will be to wait for someone else to “do” for them, instead of doing for themselves. They know longer have any self esteem from accomplishing anything or making anything of themselves because they are just waiting for that greedy corporate titan to “share” with them. Is this what you tell your patients? That the world is greedy and they don’t have a chance without someone else doing everything for them? Keeps ‘em coming back I bet.
Instead they will turn to substance abuse and you will have a captive audience and a couch full of people to ruin. from my experience with psychotherapists, it is good business to keep them psycho and dependent, instead of encouraging them to be independent and help THEMSELVES. It keeps the income stream flowing. I know the game.
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» on 05.09.09 @ 04:42 AM
“Heroes do not wear courage
across their chests like banners,
large letters, screaming lion heartedness.
Instead, courage grows slowly
through the years, along with character,
burrows deep in the gut,
just waiting for the right mixture
of adrenaline and circumstance,
then like fire, igniting dynamite,
explodes into brilliant acts of valor.”
by Susan R. Norton
Firefighters, characterologically, are extreme risk takers. What better choice of a career than one where you get your adrenaline flowing occasionally, get to drive around in a big red truck, receive the constant, undying adulation of children, and get paid for it? When you do get injured, you find a doctor who will let you stay off work up to a whole year with full pay (tax free, so you are really pulling in more money than if you were working), then eventually, at age 45 or 50 take disability retirement (more tax free income,) and go get another job somewhere else.
We all appreciate the firefighters for saving homes, but remember this is the job they chose in life, and often for self-centered, not selfless, reasons, just like most everyone else who chooses a career. This certainly does not describe all firefighters, but many. This is not the “hero” that Susan Norton describes in the above poem.
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» on 05.09.09 @ 05:34 AM
The contributors here, with the exception of the first, only serve to underscore Russell Collins’ point. Their arrogance and lack of empathy separate the heels from the heroes. They’ll never understand. Couldn’t possibly so long as their feeling function is dead and buried. They might accumulate wealth at any cost, but have my sympathy for the emotional price they pay, unaware.
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» on 05.09.09 @ 12:41 PM
I was moved and impressed by this lovely article, and depressed by the self-serving comments of some troglodytes in their responses.
Altruism and bravery is the true measure of a hero. I see almost no altruism or sense of communal responsibility—brother’s keeper—in many of the highly placed managers in the financial, insurance, and business sectors. If you don’t have compassion for those less fortunate or able, and don’t follow the golden rule, then you’re a jerk. Being able to make money doesn’t make you a better human being or more deserving, it means that’s your skill set. Big whoop. I’ve been self-employed. I’ve been an employee. I currently own a manufacturing business. I’m not defined by my job, but by my ability to make a difference in a positive way for others or for our world or community as a whole.
Understanding that we’re all in this together, treating others as you’d like to be treated, thinking long-term, and working for the greater public benefit are what we should all aspire to. If your main focus is on yourself &/or your benefits, you’re a poor excuse for a human being.
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» on 05.09.09 @ 05:02 PM
You can feed a man for a day by giving him a fish or you can feed him for a lifetime by teaching him to fish.
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» on 05.10.09 @ 01:56 PM
You still don’t get it do ya Becky? When everyone is sucking off the government for government jobs or handouts and every one gets equal pay for unequal work, then who has money to be altruistic? Even the government is broke, and can’t afford welfare checks and public housing because nobody has any reason to work hard to make any money to pay taxes, you have broken the back of capitalism, which is incentive and reward. It isn’t a matter of heart or will to help others it is a matter of ABILITY to help others!
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