Ever since 9/11 our country has bestowed the honorific of “hero”
on anyone who wears a uniform – soldier, firefighter, police – only for putting
on a uniform. I hope that now that one of these “heroes” has committed an
atrocity in Afghanistan – killing 16 civilians, including 9 children and 4
women, injuring 5, and burning some of the bodies – we can back off designating
anyone who volunteers to do what most of us don’t want to do (usually because
they don’t have any other option) as a “hero” and reserve that term once again
for those who go over and beyond their assigned duties to save the lives of
others, often at risk to their own lives. We really shouldn’t have heroes who
commit atrocities.
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