Heroes and Villains

My father used to say, "You can't be all things to all people. If you try, you'll end up being nothing to no one."

I think that too often we try to make everyone happy. We think that if we understand what everyone wants then we can placate the masses.

In politics, this is the equivalent of looking at the polls to decide what to do to please the most number of people.

In business, this is the equivalent of creating a product line that is so broad that nothing you do is great.

In religion, this is the equivalent of having commandments that 'fit the times' rather than time honored principles.

In your personal life, this is the equivalent of choosing values that are convenient for the situation.

When we think of heroes, we think of great people that have done something spectacular. Usually signified by acts of bravery. In war, the hero is the man who charged up the hill to take out a machine gun nest or jumped on the grenade to protect his squad. In tragedies, it is very easy to identify the hero. When something goes wrong, the heroes are those that do something amazing that no on else is willing to do.

There is another definition... and that is the opposite of villain. The villain is the person (usually, but can be an event or a thing) that is capable of great harm. The villain is the one person (group, etc) that everyone good loves to hate.

If you subscribe to my way of thinking, everything has an opposite. Light - Dark. Up - Down. Good - Bad. etc.

So, in order to have a hero, you have to have a villain. The villain causes the harm and the hero fixes it... usually at the risk of great personal harm.

When trying to be great, there will always be those that try to prevent your success. The more your success means the changing of the status quo, the more people will try to prevent you from doing that. If your good deed is simple and has no negative impact on others, then you will likely not have any opposition. When your goal is to challenge the establishment, then you have to be willing to step on some toes.

In order to accomplish anything of real consequence, you have to be willing ruffle feathers and live with the nay-sayers trying to prevent you from accomplishing your goals.