Who Are Your Heroes?
It struck me recently that I’ve never really defined who my heroes are. Unsure if this is a good or a bad thing, I’ll have a crack at listing a few of them now.
But before I do, I just want to make a quick observation I have on the significance of a hero through the eyes of the beholder.
To put some perspective on this, I want to include a quote by Oscar Wilde of which I was recently reminded. He wrote that: “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation”.
The relevancy of this quote in relation to our heroes is pretty clear. If you define your hero, do you unwittingly replace your own hopes and dreams with those of your heroes?
It would seem so.
But that said, I have to say that I strongly disagree with this. Without getting too academic, I believe that admiration of success is a necessary ingredient in new success. In the same way that the evolution of language is based upon an existing set of definitions, personal success is based on an existing set of definitions as well. To put it one way, if we don’t know where we are in the world, how can we reach for the skies?
So, now that I’ve argued the relevancy of having heroes, I’ll have a go at listing mine in no particular order:

- Ewan McGregor
- Richard Branson
- Barack Obama
- David Heinemeier Hansson
- Eric Cantona
- Sean Kelly
- Richard Feynman
- Billy Connolly
These are my heroes today. Tomorrow could be different, but for the cynics and elitists in the audience, I make absolutely no apology for any glaring omissions or vulgar inclusions they might think I’ve made. We all look at the world in or own way, no matter where our influences come from.

Posted by Iarfhlaith |
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