The 5 Traits of Heroes from the Art of Maniless

This is a good article by Brett & Kate McKay from the Art of Manliness website. It basically sums up many topics discussed in this forum regarding SA and doing the right thing.

The 5 Traits of Heroes

1. Maintain constant vigilance for situations that require heroic action. Every day we have opportunities to take a stand and be heroes. Sure, we probably won’t have to land a plane or fight off a ruffian, but we can be heroes by sticking up for a student being bullied by one’s peers, blowing the whistle on a supervisor who is engaging in shady and unethical business practices, or stopping to help a stranded driver.

2. Learn not to fear conflict because you took a stand. When you see a situation that requires action, don’t wussy out because you’re afraid of what other people will say or do. A real man doesn’t give a damn if some people get upset or uncomfortable with doing the right thing. Don’t be afraid to stand by your principles and live with integrity.

3. Imagine alternative future scenarios beyond the present moment. We often fail to act because we’re too short-sighted. We think about the immediate consequences rather than the long-term ones. Will you be able to look yourself in the mirror 20 years down the road knowing you didn’t do the right thing?

4. Resist the urge to rationalize and justify inaction. Inaction is easy because it’s so easy to rationalize. The “bystander effect” is a perfect example of this. The bystander effect occurs when an emergency situation occurs in a large group of people and no one takes action to remedy the situation because they rationalize that someone else will take care of it - Don’t be that person.

5. Trust that people will appreciate heroic (and frequently unpopular) actions. In point number two, we’re told not to fear the conflict that might arise from doing the right thing. Conversely, we should also develop a confidence that people appreciate and honor heroic action. While your action may be unpopular at first, people eventually come around and appreciate and recognize true heroes.

Full link here: [URL="http://artofmanliness.com/2010/03/14/developing-the-heroic-imagination-the-5-traits-of-heroes/"[/URL]

Nice, and do a good turn daily.

Interesting

"Don't be afraid to do the right thing" sums it all up very nicely.

Be sure you're right then go ahead.

mama said it best... "Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do."

It is nice when you know that you are the only one with particular knowledge, then there is no doubt.

Once I had to step up and perform some first aid for a serious laceration that occurred because of horseplay. There were a lot of people around and I was not in charge of these kids but I knew that I was the one that knew how to care and what was available to use.

Other times I have stepped up when others stood by, it feels good to do the right thing.

im with you conceptually

but to often of late, society has constructed the process of change to
make it "is the potential for change worth the effort" answer--no.

we are many of us, to busy to get involved, to dedicate the time and potential for
agrivation, to do more than say--there oughta be a law and go on our way.

There is an old saying, sorry but I don't know who said it. In fact I think someone here at DC has it in a signature line.

‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’

Sometimes you have to stand up for something, simply because it is the right thing to do.

My Dad made sure I learned that lesson at a young age, by making me stand up to a neighborhood bully. I knew going in I would get my butt whipped, and looking back, I think he knew it to, but he made me stand up for myself.
He told me doing right sometimes hurts... but you have to do it anyway.

I like to think we live in a world that see's good intentions but the bottom line is money either it is the victims family, the cops, the DA's office someone is going to try and take yours right or wrong

Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.John Wayne

"Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is doing it. Right is right, even if nobody is doing it."
St. Augustine

If there is to be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine

"When you were born you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so
that when you die you are smiling and everyone around you is crying."


Mark Twain:
Always do right--this will gratify some and astonish the rest.
message to Young People's Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, New York, February 16, 1901


Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.

Curiousity got me, I had to look around the site The Art of Manliness | Men’s Interests and Lifestyle . Hard to believe men need a website for this stuff, I guess if you were not lucky enough to have a Dad like mine it couldn't hurt to read it.

Robert Heinlien wrote "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. "

Works for me, but i haven't tried to write a sonnet, or die yet.