What is a hero?

Webster's defines hero as "An illustrious man, supposed to be exalted,
after death, to a place among the gods; a demigod, as Hercules."
In other words, a hero is an idol, and those who worship and pay
homage to such heroes are idolaters.

What does it take to become a hero/idol?  There are many factors:
wealth, prestige, personality.  However, the overriding quality of a
hero today is his or her popularity.  The easiest way to be popular is
to be photogenic, and to die a grisly death.

For example, JFK and Nixon were both awful presidents.  But JFK was
pretty and assassinated, and Nixon was ugly and died an old man.
Which one is the hero?  The answer speaks for itself.

There are those who say that a hero doesn't depend on the adulation of
others; that a hero is someone who follows his or her own convictions
regardless of what others think.  Hogwash.  A hero without hero
worshippers is an idol without idolaters -- a worthless artifact of history.