What Is A Hero?

Having completed at my wife's urgent behest the always onerous task of vacuuming, I sat down a short time ago to peruse The Toronto Star. In it there is another story about Anthony Marco, the Hamilton-area NDP candidate running in Tim Hudak's riding. Already under fire for so-called controversial remarks about nazism, he has again offended someone (i.e. police and firefighters)by sharing his insights publicly.

The story, in the Star's Campaign Notebook but not available online, conveys how Marco said, just before Remembrance Day last year: “I think we throw the term ‘hero’ around a little bit too loosely these days . . . I’m tired of hearing, and no offence to doctors or firefighters or policemen, but automatically calling occupations as heroic . . . you don’t automatically become a hero just because you put on a uniform of some sort or have a title before or after your name,”

To me, what he says makes perfect sense, especially given the misdeeds of the police that are now coming to light on a regular basis. Despite that fact, Jim Christie, president of the Ontario Provincial Police Association, said he found Marco’s comment, especially from a provincial candidate, “very disturbing.”

The blind deference and obeisance to authority is a dangerous thing in a democracy. If nothing else, the police abuses at last year's G20 Summit in Toronto taught us that unless tightly monitored and always questioned, authority can be so easily abused, with very dire consequences to innocent people.

As well, I wonder if police association president Jim Christie also finds "very disturbing" the conviction and sentencing of a former Vancouver police officer, Peter Hodson, for dealing drugs on the job.

Righteous indignation should be directed at those who truly deserve it.

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