Preface To Heroes: Define It

So...  The show this week...  Self Help Radio this week...  It's already done.  I'm not saying so on the air - I find there are few benefits to mentioning one's show is prerecorded - but I'm saying so here because (if it's possible) less people read this blog than listen to the show.  & almost no one listens to the show.

One thing I like to do for my themes is define them.  You might expect I would have done it for this week's show.  & I tried to, really, I did.  But I was interrupted.  Which sometimes happens.  It would be nice if it happened comically, but I doubt that's the case for this week's show.  In any event, I did not get to define the word hero.  Which, should you tune in Monday, you'll discover.  Should I have said "spoiler alert"?

However, we have time & space for definitions here.  So, without further ado, here's what it says on the Wikipedia page for hero:

A hero (heroine in its feminine form) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly solely gender-specific terms (like actor), hero is often used to refer to any gender, though heroine only refers to female. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake of glory & honor. On the other hand, are post-classical & modern heroes, who perform great deeds or selfless acts for the common good instead of the classical goal of wealth, pride, & fame.

It goes on to mention - you can read it yourself - that the word comes from the Greek heros which meant "protector" or "defender."  One of my favorite sites, the Online Etymology Dictionary, notes these things:

Meaning "man who exhibits great bravery" in any course of action is from 1660s in English. Sense of "chief male character in a play, story, etc." first recorded 1690s. Hero-worship is from 1713 in reference to ancient cults & mysteries; of living people by 1830s. In Homer, of the Greeks before Troy, then a comprehensive term used of warriors generally, also of all free men in the Heroic Age. In classical mythology from at least the time of Hesiod (8c. B.C.E.) "man born from a god & a mortal," especially one who had done service to humankind; with the exception of Heracles limited to local deities & patrons of cities.

That's all I wanted to say today.  Something I didn't get a chance to say on the show.  Which airs on Monday.  But which I finished yesterday morning.  Not to be too confusing or anything.