The Clandestine Flame

Recently, I read about a man who gathered a number of his friends and worked with a high school to repair vandalized textbooks. If I remember the figure correctly, they were able to refurbish more than a thousand texts. Now, I have observed the mindset of the average public school student and discovered that they either are unable, or choose to be unable to recognize a good deed. I have no doubt that some of the books that were refurbished are now filled with vandalism. But was the man's work in vain?



I would be honored to meet this man and his friends. The problem is, I have no idea as to contacting him. But as I was thinking about how to contact this man, I came across a piece of knowledge locked safely in the annals of my memory: The human body has an incredible system called homeostasis. One aspect of this system is a positive feedback mechanism. The positive feedback systems include labor contractions and blood clotting. While these are the only two examples in the human body, they are both rather important systems. A positive feedback system functions by first sending a command to the appropriate body region, say the bloodstream. Obviously, one would not want a single platelet clotting a wound. As a result, the body sends one platelet, followed by another, until the platelets are arriving in the thousands. After the signal is no longer required, the brain stops sending it.


Why, you may ask, is this person talking about homeostasis and how does that relate to this man I read about? I have dazzled you all with my knowledge enough for one post, so here is the question: Should a hero be recognized? Sure, we recognize our armed forces, police, fire, and emergency medical services for their heroism, but what about those other heroes who never have their stories told? If these heroes are recognized, the goal, one would assume, would be to advocate the emulation of heroism in order to further the good deeds. However, In the U.S., we tend to worship celebrities for their fame, not their merit. Therefore, we may reason that heroes should be recognized for their merit, not their fame. But the more fundamental question must be asked: should heroes be recognized at all? Most have heard the aphorism "power corrupts." Seeing as most aphorisms are based in reality, are we willing to corrupt the few heroes that we have?

In my opinion, heroes should not be publicly recognized, but the deed should be. I doubt that this man wants the glory of being hailed a hero, but instead wanted to simply do a good deed for a local school. Should the man be emulated, or should his actions be?