DEFICIT OF HISTORICAL MEMORY

The distorted sense of American nationalism, discussed in the concluding paragraphs of the previous entry, needs further clarification. Not that I am that much objecting to the presence of an Imperial Nationalism in the American attitudes toward the outside world (which, after all, can be well reasoned and even justified!), as much as I am reproachfully pointing to the absence of any cohesive substance in the domestic life of the nation. The loud clatter of stereotyped pseudo-patriotism is more than matched by a deafening silence in so far as America’s historical memory is concerned. In fact, that historical memory, having been condemned as politically incorrect, has been reduced to shameful insignificance on that account.

Among many other things, the health of national consciousness can be judged by the nation’s treatment of her heroes. But who are America’s national heroes? The proper definition of a hero is sadly twisted beyond reason, these days, in the American parlance and comprehension.

To begin with, the hero is never a victim, yet in the current American consciousness most victims of violent crimes, particularly, of terrorism, are quickly pronounced as heroes. An otherwise undistinguished prisoner of war, or an innocent hostage held by some terrorist group, becomes a hero ipso facto. A sports champion is always a hero as well, just because he is a winner. A man who saves himself by cutting off his hand, which got trapped some place, is also an undisputed hero… Not that I intend to withhold my pity, my admiration, or my sympathy in some compelling cases of heroic deeds associated with the situations above, but unfortunately the shortchanged loser in all this is the real hero, who is properly defined by an act of supreme self-sacrifice for a cause far higher than personal survival or glorification. In a nutshell, you are a hero not for getting shot, but for consciously getting in the line of fire, saving the lives of others.

And now, the bottom line in appreciating your everyday heroes. There can be no such appreciation in separation from a keen sense of history.

Most national heroes have become part of their nation’s past, and even the heroes of today become separated from the here and now, and by virtue of their heroic act, belong to the national past. Accordingly, nations that do not honor the heroes of their past do not deserve the glory of that past, and do not measure up to the potential of their future greatness.

It is quite tragic that American society, while beating the drums of some inalienable right to greatness, has, in fact, alienated itself from the true greatness of its past, having trivialized the concept of national hero, and having effectively lost or renounced its historical memory.