Heroes

[poliphilo]

One of my friends in the parish once asked me who my heroes were.  I thought about it, then answered, "Ian Botham*."  He was taken aback. "I'd have thought you'd have chosen some saint,"  he said. "No," I replied, brashly.  "And what about you?"  "My hero is my parish priest," he said- meaning me.

This, of course, was only a year or so before I resigned from the ministry- amid much scandal.

Heroes- living heroes, anyway-  can be counted on to let you down.   I'm not surprised Johnny Rotten is now this clown who advertises butter. My admiration for Ian Botham has never fully recovered from his appearance in Weetabix commercials.

Which is why my heroes are all of them safely dead. Here's a list.

Goya. Because he went on creating into crotchety old age- and the work just got better and better.
Balzac. Because he had a grand idea and then wore himself out trying to give it shape.
Lennon. Because he really seems to have meant it when he said, "just gimme some truth!"

There's a new Lennon biography in the shops- by Philip Norman.  It contains fresh revelations: Lennon felt a little bit gay around Paul McCartney: he felt a little bit incestuous around his mother. Drip, drip, drip, drip. Do these things erode the heroic profile?

Actually, no. I've been thinking about this. Foibles don't matter. Everyone has them. And everyone's life is packed with embarrassing and discreditable incidents. What does matter is the over-all shape of the life, its trajectory. Lennon did appalling things- a whole heap of them- but he never stopped following the gleam (his own particular gleam, not somebody else's).  And it's that that makes a person a hero.

*English cricketer- key member of the English team that beat the Aussies in 1981.

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

None of my business really, but I'm curious as all hell to know what sort of controversy compelled you to resign.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Complicated.

My wife was in the process of discovering herself as a lesbian and I got bored with this and went off and found a girlfriend of my own.

But that was only what was going on in the foreground. What really motivated me was loss of faith. The sexual shenanigans gave me an excuse to ring my bishop and tell him, "I want out."

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Complicated indeed. That would just about do it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They'd have coped with the loss of faith- shifted me sideways or something- offered me re-education- but anything sexual (anything scandalous) was a sacking offence.

I'm still theoretically an Anglican priest (because holy orders are indelible) but my name is on a list of people who must not be employed.

[serennos.livejournal.com]

The sexual shenanigans gave me an excuse to ring my bishop and tell him, "I want out."

That must have been one mother of a conversation.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It was the pivotal moment of my life.

[red-girl-42.livejournal.com]

I like your take on heroes. Except for the fictional kind, they are just human, and all humans have failings. (And, frankly, I prefer the fictional kind who have failings too. Perfection is incredibly boring).

I don't think I have any heroes, but there are some people whose deeds are, to me, heroic. There are people I admire and respect. I think I'm too keenly aware of human shortcomings to elevate anyone to "hero" status anymore. But I have seen a lot of courage and integrity and compassion that makes me feel great admiration for the people who display them. I don't think the fact that those people can and will do the wrong thing sometimes makes them any less admirable.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There are living people who seem to have the knack of always being in the right place and saying or doing the right thing. One of them is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Another- I was reading about her only yesterday- is the former Northern Ireland politician Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. I hesitate to call them heroes though. It's only when a person's dead- and I can see all round their life- that I feel secure in handing out the accolade. Heroism is like sancity. It needs to be tested by a "devil's advocate".

[goddlefrood.livejournal.com]

Botham was a great hero to me also, still is. He's a Cheshire lad.

Isn't the only reason to go to Liverpool to get your passport renewed?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah now, that's unkind. The Liverpool waterfront is spectacular- a world heritage site, no less. And the city has more listed builidings than any British city apart from London.

Botham was the sort of player who comes along once in a generation- if you're lucky. We were encouraged to believe Andrew Flintoff was "the new Botham", but his performance has been disappointingly erratic.

[goddlefrood.livejournal.com]

I'm always actually pleasantly surprised by Liverpool when I go, and like most from near Manchester or within in that's not often. I do go there for my passport renewals and, yes, the waterfront is very pleasant.

There won't be another Botham. I remember how the country ground to a halt while he was almost single-handedly winning the Headingley test. I've had the privilege of seeing him play a few times, both in England and on one Ashes tour of Australia. The man quite literally bestrode the field like a Colossus. Flintoff's nowhere close, even if he is an exceptional player at times.

[(Anonymous)]

Much to my annoyance, Ian Botham attended my degree ceremony and was awarded an honorary degree from the school of Chemistry at UMIST on the same day I was awarded mine for 4 years of (reasonably hard) graft.

Apparently this was for his dedication and work for charities, but how that got him a degree in Chemistry I will never know.