Allow me to indulge in some hero worship. Of course, there are the real life historical hero's from our area. People like Robert Rogers and Israel Putnam who fought in the early Colonial wars. Their exploits in the Lake George area are legendary. Then there is Susan B. Anthony who grew up in Battenville and went on to a life of tirelessly campaigning for women's rights.
Other American icons from the past include George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, whose integrity and iron will forever shaped the country. And think of what the world would be like if Churchill, Roosevelt and Eisenhower didn't meet the threat of Hitler and the Nazis with unbreakable courage. Or if John Kennedy had been afraid to go toe to toe with the Soviets?
Still another kind of hero is found in the pages of novels or on the silver screen. Tough guys like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. The unmatched physicality of Bruce Lee. Supermans, Batmans and Wonder Womans. Rambos and Reachers, Terminators and "Bond, James Bond".
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Joesph Campbell explored the mythic allure of the journey the good and the brave must take in his landmark The Hero with a Thousand Faces. My thought is that when you have people whose values, whose very existence is threatened, you've created the need for a hero to defend them. There's a song by Tina Turner called We don't need another Hero. I think it's from one of those Mad Max movies. But I beg to disagree. Another hero is exactly what we need in these times of assault on our most cherished principles, on our basic safety and security.
When one party has become nothing but a bunch of boot-licking cowards and the other incapable of anything but ineffective outrage, who is left to fight? A few brave citizens who are shot for just bearing witness? Is it any wonder I have a fantasy about the Terminator terrorizing ICE agents into a chaotic mad dash over the border into Mexico (where I'm sure the locals would give them a 'warm' welcome). Or how I can imagine Bruce Lee silently slipping into a White House cabinet meeting with nothing but his steely gaze and bare fists, a one man Department of Justice come to deliver.
And, in a rift on one of my favorite movie scenes, I picture Air Force One on another tax payer funded million dollar run to Mar-a- Lago. Time for a round of golf. But 007 has stealthily snuck on board. When he bursts thru the door of the 'Presidential Suite' he finds a couple of under aged girls cowering before a Goldfinger look-a-like. The girls squeal with delight at being saved and just barely make it out the door before their assailant lets forth such a violent eruption that the window of the plane blows out. Everything is sucked into the void: the tanning cream, the check signed "with appreciation,V. Putin", all the Epstein Files. The last thing Bond sees is a bloated orange face muttering something about a "stolen election" and then 'poof' that is gone as well.
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Of course, it's only in the movies and in our dreams that evil simply vanishes out a window. In the real world there are still many good people trying to make government work. And there are others, like the folks in Salem and Greenwich who have been out protesting in the bitter cold every weekend. There's Heather Cox Richardson who calmly puts the days events into historical perspective. And we are lucky to have a professional military made up of the best of us. Men and women who are committed to defending traditional American values of justice and equality for all, even while serving under a Commander-in-Chief who has no values beyond selfishness, greed and vindictiveness.
Maybe that's where this vision came from: A team of Navy Seals arrive in the wasteland that used to be the east wing of the White House. Despite being threatened with a golf club they quickly overcome the enemy with the command "We're here to give orders, not take them. You are charged with treason against the United States of America." With those words the nations nightmare comes to an end. At least that's the way of the hero's in my dreams.
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