Well, growing up in DC and riding the Metro for years I saw many men keep sitting when women get on. But what bothered me the most is when both women and men would sit when an elderly person got on, or a person with a small child. I could ride that thing without holding on. Use to it.
Now I live in the country where doors are opened, everyone says Hi, we are called ladies. And I am so not use to it, but liking it. :-). Oh, and people here actually stop at a 4-way and actually wave people thru. yes Wave, not fingered!

It isn't completely dead, but it sure is lacking and on its way out.

Interesting post.

I don't think heroism is dead. You are a police officer and you put your life on the line every day to keep people safe. I think that's very heroic.

But I do understand what you are saying; however, for every story you hear of people panicking and running, you will find just as many stories of people doing amazing, selfless acts of heroism to save others.

It's all in perspective--glass half full or half empty.

heave i so disagree with that..

I don't know if I agree with you entirely Heave. I'm sure considering that you're in law enforcement you could come up with some instances of heroism among you and your peers. Amongst the general public? Yeah it's rare. The bygone tradition of women and children first could I think be more attributed to societal changes over the years. These days a woman could very well be the one pulling you from a burning building or putting the smack down on a perp.

I dont believe its dead either.. do I believe in a noble knight who will ride up on a white horse and save the day.. no..

but everytime I watch or read the news.. and I think about all the men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.. I know true bravery and heroism exists.. We may not agree on the war, why we are there, what we are fighting for. but I dare anyone to argue those people fighting for my freedoms.. every waking moment of their day.. arent heroes

Aside from a lack of sense of communial responsibility instilled in youths in the current age. You have to take into account the 'mob' mentality that takes effect in situations such as the one you cited. For untrained people if we see other people running in a scared fashion our instincts will compel us to run. There is different studies debating whether or not regional ancestory is a deciding factor on whether we run with the crowd or away from the crowd in order to insure survivial but that would explain why people appear to run "all over the place".

That being said I disagree with the thought that heroism is dead, it's not reported on as much as humanity depravity and tradgy but its there. You need only look at recent natural disastors, the World Trade Center attack or the thousands of troops braving attacks Everyday to insure their countrymen are safe from another large scale attack. They have little to gain, military wages are crap wages and they could have just waited for 'someone else to do it' but they didn't.

Heros are everywhere, sometimes we're just to wrapped up in our own cynicism to see it.

I think Heavetoo's point has been overlooked.

I often wonder the same thing--why do people panic when they outnumber a bad guy? Bad guys are hardly marksmen, and if they are bum rushed, chances are they can be subdued. His question was why don't more people step up and try to do that?
The answer is we are in a generation of "me first, screw you" mindsets. There is similar mindset of "Its not my fault, its someone or something else's fault".

People have become selfish and unwilling or outright refuse to take responsibility for their choices and actions.
We as a society have become like Rome, we are decaying from the inside.
The media and commercial advertising have brainwashed people into being wrapped up in their own little self important world, to the detriment of the innocent and the helpless.

This site and Breakups and Divorce group in particular, are living testaments to this issue. We are all generally victims of the selfish attitudes we see around us. Its the over riding theme in almost every posting.

Keep this in mind...all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Many countries compare the United States to Rome. If it is true, at least we will leave an impression!

Why don't the Thousands of wildrebeasts beat down the 12 crocidiles waiting for them at the river crossing? You may say they are but animals, but humans are infact just mammals, we trust what we SEE is working, unless we explicity know otherwise. Everyone is guilty of it everyday For example:

"Benign herding behaviors may be frequent in everyday decisions based on learning from the information of others, as when a person on the street decides which of two restaurants to dine in. Suppose that both look appealing, but both are empty because it is early evening; so at random, this person chooses restaurant A. Soon a couple walks down the same street in search of a place to eat. They see that restaurant A has customers while B is empty, and choose A on the assumption that having customers makes it the better choice. And so on with other passersby into the evening, with restaurant A doing more business that night than B. This phenomenon is also referred as an information cascade"

So assume you hear a loud noise and screams, you look up and see someone running, look around and see more people running. If you can not immediately spot the danger your body will still compel you into action. Without a destination in mind to run to you will follow the rest of the herd-er-people.

Standing at a safe distance we can easily say we'd calmly survey the area looking for the source and determining if we could take it or not. But not being there, in the craziness of the moment we can't say with any real certainty that we could fight the Flight urge long enough to ascertain the enemy to Fight.

I agree with this general idea. We have a lot of sheep that do nothing when the shit hits the fan, or they run away, like that will help somehow. What we need are more sheep dogs to scare the wolves away, or at least keep them guessing. For example, the concealed weapons laws many states are embracing. When the criminal mind knows there may be willing resistance, they think twice. That is basic "common sense", I know, not so common anymore.

Mielan, that is some intellectual ass shit you just spouted, and I dont know what you just said.

Monkey See, Monkey Do. Unless trained otherwise.

I read another article that says that there are three types of people. They are sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. Most people are sheep and they will run from danger etc. The wolves are the people who pray on others misfortunes and things like that. Police Officers and the like are said to be sheep dogs because we protect the sheep from the wolves. It was an interesting articls but I don't know where I saw it last.

Not all Heroism is dead....but a lot of it is. The same goes for Chivalry.

Then again, my views of the world can be jaded from what I see on a day to day basis. There isn't much good left in the world and the little good that is left is really preyed upon.

William J. Bennett, mentioned that anology in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy on November 24, 1997 and it was referenced in a book titled "On Killing" writen by LTC (RET) Dave Grossman. It is extremely insightful.

Not sure if all of this will fit but worth a try!

Author/Speaker - William J. Bennett

Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident. We may well be in the most violent times in history but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

Then there are the wolves and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? Youd better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

Then there are sheepdogs and Im a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf. If you have no capacity for violence, then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep.

If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog - a warrior - someone who is walking the uncharted path - someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen - which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms, and fire exits throughout their kids schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kids school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheeps only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard and so they choose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf; he has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot, and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way - at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didnt tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go Baa. Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students and, under ordinary circumstances, they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them.

This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America , more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be.

Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: he is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come but the sheepdog lives for that day.

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep - that is, most citizens in America - said, Thank God I wasnt on one of those planes. The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage - only one - and that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders, and the killing of law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior, and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs.

But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and Im proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs. Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury , New Jersey . Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator at United Airlines about the hijacking. When they learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd and the other passengers confronted the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people, and parents - from sheep to sheepdogs and, together, they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. ~ Edmund Burke.

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature, the sheep - real sheep - are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way and so are wolves. They didnt have a choice.

But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust, or love.

But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warriors path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip, and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

This business of being a sheep or a sheepdog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand sheep and, on the other end, is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11, almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously.

Its okay to be a sheep but do not kick the sheepdog. Indeed, the sheepdog may just run a little harder, strive to protect a little better, and be fully prepared to pay an ultimate price in battle and spirit - with the sheep moving from baa to thanks.

We do not call for gifts or freedoms beyond our lot. We just need a small pat on the head, a smile, and a thank you to fill the emotional tank which is drained protecting the sheep. And when our number is called by the Almighty and day retreats into night, a small prayer before the heavens just may be in order to say thanks for letting you continue to be a sheep. And be grateful for the thousands - millions - of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.