Heroes and villains

When I was a child we were brought up hearing tales of heroes and explorers, people such as Robert Scott and Neil Armstrong; Charles Lindbergh and the Wright brothers; Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Roger Bannister (ooh, both knighted for their achievements); Donald Campbell and nowadays Richard Noble; innovators and daredevils who struggled, strived, risked everything, sometimes even including their lives, for the sake of a dream, to be the first, the fastest, the best. In those days this was a Good Thing and inspired the rest of us to do our utmost to get the most out of our short lives. Achievements didn’t all need to be earth-shattering to be of value – what was important that you’d had a dream and tried to attain it. You didn’t even need to succeed (Scott was the prime example), but that was the icing on the cake.

So what’s gone wrong with so many of the people of this country, that now they detest success? Any achievement has to be belittled and sneered at; compared against another person’s efforts and invariably found wanting for not being ‘worthy’ enough (who judges ‘worthiness’ anyway?). Where’s the delight and celebration? Why is success a dirty word? Why knock people – is it jealousy? Are people really so shallow, petty and small-minded that they can’t admire someone for achieving? Is it because they’re too afraid to get off their arses and have a go themselves? You hear the whinges “Well of course he/she’s only done that because of his/her background”. Even if it were true (which it certainly isn’t in Ellen MacArthur’s case) why would the achievements of ‘poor’ people of any more value than those of wealthier ones? Do the best surgeons have to come from slums? Chips on shoulders showing there, methinks!

Paula Radcliffe suffered from the ‘build me up/knock me down’ syndrome at the Athens Olympics, when she ‘failed to deliver’ what the press and pundits had promised. It was noticeable that many of her fierciest vilifiers wouldn’t have been able to run for a bus, let alone a marathon. The knockers also denigrate Ellen’s feat by asking what use it is to Mankind. It shows the rest of us what we could also achieve if we really want to. Her massive achievement stands to inspire everyone else to take anther small step towards their own personal goals. What would the world be like if Martin Luther King hadn’t had hisdream?

Is it the publicity surrounding this record that these mean-spirited people resent? Then they should exercise their freedom of choice and not buy the papers or watch the News. So what if sailing single-handed around the world hasn’t rid the world of evil? If it’s inspired even one person to try to step out of ‘their place’ then that in itself is laudable, and that person might be the first of their family to carry on learning and perhaps find that cure for cancer. Who knows?

Or should we all wallow in the mire of second-rate mediocrity, sniping at people who dare to push the envelope? It’s so much easier than reaching for the stars.