Ever since the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner cover of Vanity Fair magazine came out and everyone immediately hailed him/her as a hero, I haven’t been able to get this idea out of my head.
And it’s not that I’m some Kardashian hater. Much to my husband’s dismay, I’ve been a lukewarm fan of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. So I’m not a total stranger to Bruce Jenner and his hobbies. There’s just something about reality TV that draws me in. I love to learn about the way of life for those who I have nothing in common with. {Some of my other favorites have been Sister Wives and 19 Kids and Counting.} Clearly, my lifestyle as a high school English teacher in North Carolina doesn’t compare to that of the I-get-paid-for-living Kardashians in LA. In a lot of ways, Bruce seemed to have his head on straight more than the rest of his family.
But now he has had multiple expensive and extensive surgeries, grown his hair out, wears makeup and women’s clothes… slutty clothes for any woman to wear, let alone a man turned woman at age 65. And he’s a hero. A hero? What am I missing?
When I Google hero, I’m met with this:
The mom who’s up with her baby at all hours of the night and still goes to work the next day, or the couple who starts their own business in the basement of their home to conquer their dreams – now that’s a hero. The soldiers who give up their own lives so I can live mine, the athlete who plays through the injury, or the young child who requests no presents for her birthday because she wants everything donated to someone in need – now that’s a hero. The teenager who goes to bed hungry every night and comes to school to overcome his background or the customers who pay for someone else’s dinner – now that’s a hero. The educator who cares about the child’s life more than the test score, or the patient battling cancer who maintains a positive outlook – now that’s a hero. The couple who fights for their marriage when everyone around them seems to say divorce or the man behind the cash register who is kind even when his customers are rude – now that’s a hero.
Bruce Jenner had surgery to give him boobs, shave his Adam’s apple and who knows what else, and now he’s Caitlyn? Is that all it takes to make a hero? And if that’s your definition, ok. But let’s really stop and think about our definition of hero before just jumping on the bandwagon.
You can certainly have your definition of what a hero is. And if it’s Caitlyn Jenner, I’m down with that. It’s just not mine.
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