Confession: I borrowed the title of this blog from a song but that's beside the point. The point is all about heroes. A nation needs its heroes, those who model courage, patriotism, virtue, and sacrife for the generations to come.
High school Latin students used to cut their liquistic teeth on the works of Livy, an acient author who wanted to instill in the Romans what was courageous, patriotic, and sacrifical that made Rome what it was. A case in point is his story about Cincinnatus who was a farmer who became a dictator over Rome, but then gave up his absolute power to go back to farming his small plot of land. This is why George Washington is called "the American Cincinnatus."
Livy also included the story of the brave Horatius who, all by himself, defended a bridge against the invading Etruscans and thereby gave Rome time to get prepared for the enemy. That sounds like Travis, Crockett, and Bowie at the Alamo.
England had Henry V who needed to make a rousing speech to his men. (It's from Shakepear's play that includes the speech from which we get the phrase, "band of brothers.") The English army is significantly outnumbered by the enemy forces. The real, historical Battle of Agincourt bears this out: Henry’s army numbered around 5,000 men, while the French army numbered at least around 30,000, although some estimates are as high as 100,000 men. Henry’s speech captures the sense of comradeship and patriotism which binds the men together on the field of battle.
Not to be outdone, there was the man voted to be the greatest Englishman of all time, Winston Churchill and his immortal speech which included these words during WW II,
"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
The hairs stand at attention on the back of the necks of those who heard or read those words.
Then we turn to Hebrews 11 which contains a register of the faith of men and women in the history of Israel whom God used in great ways. Paul uses Abraham's faith, his trust in God, to "go to a land that [God] would show him." James cites Abraham's trust in God in the sacrifice of Isaac. Israel had its models of faith for as the Scripture commands us, "whose faith follow."
We have Paul who tells the reader "follow me as I follow Christ." The chuch is not left without its models of what God does through the faithful. But each of those models had their flaws--Abraham, instead of being truthful about his wife, lies and puts her in danger. David's breaking of many of the The Commandments is repeated in Sunday school lesson after Sunday school lesson. And Samson? Thereby hangs a tale. And what about Solomon at the end of his life? And Noah? We could go on and on. But suffice it to say, if you're searching for a perfect person as a model other than Christ, you're on a fool's errand.
We're living in a day of the destruction of our models. They've removed many of Jefferson's statues. They've renamed schools and streets, deleting the name of George Washington from our national landscape, but mentioning that "he owned slaves." As of July 17, 113 statues had been defaced or torn down. A mob in Minneapolis cheered as it pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus.
Who do these people think they are? They aren't morally or intellectually fit to lace the shoes of such great men of our past. And make no mistake, they will not stop until there is nothing left. Nothing. No history. No past from which to learn. Only an ongoing present.
This brings us to that question, "Whatever happened to Randoph Scott whom the songwriter used as a model for whatever happened to our American heroes?
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