Heroes' Holiday

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day! This past November, we went down to DC to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and sister and their families. Ross and I went on different excursions with different nephews, and one of the most memorable was viewing the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial by night. We walked down the National Mall from the Smithsonian Castle to the Tidal Basin (a  looong walk in cold weather!) to be rewarded with a stunning sight. I hadn't seen any pictures of the memorial, so the full effect - walking through the narrow, cliff-like entrance to see the figure of Dr. King emerging out of the rock. "From the mountains of despair, a stone of hope," the legend reads.

Photo by Scott Ablemen

Two of the next generation.

One of the best things about our visit was sharing it with my nine-year-old nephew Xavier. We talked about Dr. King, and what he did, and Xavi and I waked around the encircling stone wings of the memorial and he read aloud some of the quotes inscribed there. We talked about the difference between superheros (which Xavi is VERY much into) and real heroes.
I hope my nephews continue to think of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a hero, someone to learn about and to emulate. It seems to take more work to remember real heroes in our day, with the internet and a hundred and sixty cable channels ready to distract us. When Xavi is my age, Dr. King will be as far removed in history from him as William Jennings Bryant, John Singer Sargent and Queen Alexandria are from me.

How about you, Reds? Who do you hope will remain a hero to the next generation? Who were your first heros when you were small? And have you passed on any torches to your children, nieces, or nephews?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is such an important question, Julia. I think about --bravery. Oe of the things I see in my grandchildren--they are fabulous, and brilliant, of course--is a wish to be wonderful. How do we do that? Be brave. I know this is what I'm sometimes lacking--but courage and bravery, and confidence--that's what I want instill.  
I have always thought I would name a child Amelia, after Amelia Earhart. Or Christa,  after Christa McAuliffe. They had a passion, they took a risk, they were not afraid. 

My lawyer husband spent many years in the 60's in Mississippi, working to make sure the new Voting Rights Act was followed.. it was terrifying and important. He was brave. IS brave. 

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HALLIE EPHRON: A few years ago climate researcher Stephen Schneider, died. In 1971(!) he wrote a paper that predicted global warming. Over the years he refined his theory backed by evidence. He was villified by climate change deniers who still claim there is no statistical evidence that the earth is warming or that human behavior is the cause. I hope and pray Dr. Schneider is remembered as a hero whose warning people heeded... in time.

Here's a video of him in action not long before his death:


LUCY BURDETTE: Of course I could go with writers--those who wrote novels like CADDIE WOODLAWN and the Little House on the Prairie series. Books that gave hope and light to the shy young people who read them...

Photo: Palm Beach Daily News

But the old footage of Martin Luther King jr. in action is so inspiring. I love that he had a cause he was so sure was the right path. And that he was willing to risk everything, including his life, to move it forward. Same thing with the early heroes of the women's movement. And closer to home, there are some folks right here in Key West who are trying to help the homeless population...it's not always a popular cause, but neither can it be ignored.




RHYS BOWEN: When I was growing up Winston Churchill was the hero--the one who essentially saved the world from Hitler. A friend and I stood all night in a long line to file past his coffin as he lay in state. Our current world suffers from a lack of heroes, don't you think. How many current politicians can we name who come across as shining leaders? Mandela was one. To be have been unjustly imprisoned all those years and to emerge not wanting revenge shows a truly noble spirit.

I am disgusted that today's icons give such a terrible example to the young: movie stars who live together and have several children before they decide to get married. Pop stars who twerk. God, I'm sounding like the sort of old woman I used to swear I'd never turn into!

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  My parents were such staunch conservatives that while they were shocked by the murders of the Kennedys and Reverend King, I wouldn't say they either mourned or admired them.  For me, growing up in that era, I felt somehow cheated that we as a family hadn't grieved together...
Personal heroes? The Gemini and Apollo astronauts! The Right Stuff, all right.  The Space Shuttle astronauts, especially Sally Ride. 
One of my lifetime heroes? Charles Darwin.  And I was crazy about Carl Sagan.  (You can see the biology major seeping through here...)

Heroes for today's generation?  Mandela, undoubtedly. And although I'm not Catholic, my admiration for Pope Francis grows by the day.

As for the movie stars, Rhys, I don't think Brad and Angie have set a bad example, married or not. I would just hate to live with that kind of public scrutiny.

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: My present-day hero is Malala Yousafzai, the girls' education activist. As we all know, she was shot by the Taliban, who were trying to execute her for speaking out on blogs and to the BBC. She survived and continues to speak out on behalf of voiceless girls and women, garnering a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize along the way. 

P.S. Martin Luther King, Jr. day is important in our home, of course. However, one humorous postscript is that when Harlem was burning, Miss Edna looked out to see the local dry cleaners on fire. And now, very year on Martin Luther King's day—after singing the praises of the great man, of course— she shakes her head. "And I had the most beautiful dress in that shop," she says, remembering. 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? Who are your heroes? And who do you think ought to be remembered in the next generation?