The Fall of Heroes

Green Goblin: "...But the one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually they will hate you. "

In general I do not like quotes nor speeches... most of them are of no use to me anyways... instead I am the kind of person who is driven by examples. But then there are a few quotes which set me thinking. Like the one above. Its very true. Everybody seems to wait for that one sign of weakness that the superman amongst them might possess. Although the person in question might not want to be acknowledged as a superman; it might very possibly be their own creation. In most cases it so happens that the person followed what he thought was right and to his liking. Then comes along another person who in retrospect thinks he also could have done it, but since he was not the person who had done it, starts to idolize the other. Thus starts a chain of followers which the hero doesn't want. Because by the time people have actually noticed his achievement he has moved onto things more meaningful to him or has progressed to the next stage.

So the person in question tries to live to the expectation of the others and forgets what he wants for himself. As if this is not enough, in sometime people start to question his motives and methods. Far as I think, that hero is not concerned in social service nor in charity. He is more involved with the concept of his ability to do things, to create, to bring unto fruition his wants and needs. And when the needy gets a part of the fruit of his labour, he has the audacity to question the methods of the hero.

In this context, I remember a passage from "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, where Peter Keating goes to Howard Roark for the designs to the government housing project and around the end of the deal, Peter Keating says: "You are getting more than me." Oh! how true!

-Suchintya