When we think of heroes, we usually think of superhuman figures, fictional or mythologised, from Achilles to Churchill, from Joan of Arc to James Bond. They are superhuman because they accomplish what mere mortals cannot.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve discovered new kinds of heroes – nurses working with inadequate protection, care workers with extraordinary dedication, bus drivers who continue to transport key workers.
Few of them would want to be described as heroes. Most would see themselves as ordinary people doing ordinary jobs in extraordinary circumstances.
What they show is that heroism is a very human attribute. It is expressed not in being superhuman but in being human to the utmost. It has become fashionable to denigrate humans as selfish or callous or egotistical. Many are. But many more are dedicated and compassionate and kind. Humans are far better than we often give ourselves credit for.
In celebrating their endeavours, we should not forget that many are forced to be heroic, through a lack of resources or poor conditions. Too often, heroism is seen in the sacrifice, but not in the struggle against having to make a sacrifice. “When I give food to the poor,” the Brazilian archbishop Hélder Câmara observed, “they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
• Kenan Malik is an Observer columnist
