Your Personal Heroes

Who are your personal heroes?

Mine are

(to list a only a few)


JRR Tolkien


Einstein


Shakespeare


Beethoven


Vincent Van Gogh


Magritte


Dali


Hitch


Anthony Hopkins


Al Pacino


Kenneth Branagh


Ingmar Bergman


The Buddha


John Lennon


Philip Pullman


Sam Harris


Lotus

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BONUS

Einstein is Marilyn Monroe!  

You just reminded me of a nice story. As a kid I was fascinated by John the Baptist—the character, the power, and even the lifestyle. I was horrified to know he was killed. I then fell in love was Jesus. He was also killed. Later, I had King and Guevara as my heroes—real men with real causes. Both were killed. I finally ended up with Gandhi, a very old and good man that everyone even his enemies loved. But no way, he was killed. Unbelievable! Even Gandhi was killed? "Mom, you know," I finally told my mother what I figured out from this pattern. "Someday I'm gonna be killed."

Thanks, Phantasm, it's a great honor; I really mean it, thank you so much.

i've been thinking about this one for a while, and i wonder what really 'constitutes a hero'

i mean i love many people, but what makes them special or distinctive enough to be a hero

already just from the 2 posts referring to heroes, probably half of them wouldnt consider themselves to have done anything heroic at all, they've just lived their lives as best they could, and been who they are to whatever cost, or fame or fortune

then i think there's unsung heroes.. just normal people everyday, not looking for recognition, not doing anything spectacular.. but just living.. facing whatever battles they have, taking care of who they need to, and just gentle bobbing along being them.

so my first thought then is, well naturally the only Hero's for me is my Dad and also my kids.... the people i truly know with such inner strength to get through what life throws at them, whether good or bad, always there, smiling and bringing Joy even if lifes not being kind. my little unsung heroes

of course i do have famous ones

John Lennon

Karl Rogers

and a fair few Musicians

Heroes of their field

oh and Marlon Brando

Phantasm, your list of personal heroes contains *not a single woman*...?!

I'll have to think about this, there are so so so so so so so many people I admire, the list would be so long it'd take me a week to write, and I want to single out some extra-exceptional ones and say why...so...I'll leave it till after my brief Le "Cafe" rehab


Coffee? that's really all they serve here?

But just to balance out Phanty's long womanless post, to add to Night's female-inclusive list...



Sylvia Plath

for her extraordinary poetry
for living through it all (until she no longer could)



MUSHROOMS

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.


and just for good measure: an illustration by Sylvia Plath

of a cat!

i wouldnt say Michael Jackson is one of my Heroes.. but i think this song is pretty spot on about what to me is Hero Material

also has lots of Heroes in it too

R.I.P the Amazing David Bowie



a big part of my childhood as the Goblin King

RIP David Bowie.

What a bummer.

I don't often get upset by a celebrity passing but this one makes me sad. It seems no one but those closest to him even knew he was ill.

The words legend and genius get thrown around a lot but he really was a true legend and genius. He defied categorization and constantly re-invented himself and entertained and inspired millions in the process. Absolutely one of a kind.

There's been many times when I was in my car having a bad day or frustrated by traffic and I'd blast some Bowie and sing along and I'd feel better.

Thanks for the music, David.

Shine on Starman!

I still can't believe it Kazoo

all i can say is...... What a Unique artist and what a Legend.

RIP Alan Rickman. I feel honoured to have grown up with you on the screen. We're lucky to have had you with us in the 21st century, so your performances could be recorded in high quality for posterity.



Thank you for everything.

R.I.P The best Sheriff of Nottingham ever!

This one hurts.  Again, I don't often have a celebrity death upset me but this one is different.  I actually feel pretty dopey for being so upset by the passing of someone I've never met but this man meant a lot to me.

In case y'all hadn't guessed, I am a huge classic rock fan. The biggest band in the genre, (going by album sales anyway...) The Eagles, who just so happen to be my favorite band of all time, lost a founding member yesterday.

Glenn Frey wrote or co-wrote so many songs that made up the soundtrack of my life.  I think I actually know every word to every song he wrote. Even tho they reached their biggest peak before I was even born, I found I connected with the music of the Eagles more than any other stuff I've ever heard.  I loved his work with the Eagles as well as his solo stuff and spent countless hours listening to him.  To me, his partnership with Don Henley was like the American version of the Lennon/Mc Cartney partnership.  It was just magic.

Glenn was responsible for the more upbeat, fun songs the Eagles put out.

This one always lifts me up.  Great advice to "Take it Easy."



And this one works well too.  "Peaceful Easy Feeling."




I don't look at Glenn, or Bowie as "heroes" as you might think but as artists who made the world a more enjoyable place to live.  It really bums me out to know that there won't be any more of their contributions to the richness of so many lives but I am so forever grateful that they spent some time with us here.

The ever eloquent Don Henley said it so much better than I ever could:

"I'm not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet," he continued. "It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But, I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life."

Thanks so much Glenn, for touching my life so profoundly.

Although with my "blues" taste I'd rather pick up You belong to the city...
(besides it isn't supposed to be always lifting up, is it?)
....
You're out of your room and down on the street
Movin' through the crowd and the midnight heat
The traffic crawls, the sirens scream
You look at the faces, it's just like a dream

Nobody knows where you're goin'
Nobody cares where you've been
'Cause you belong to the city
You belong to the night
Livin' in a river of darkness
Beneath the neon lights
You were born in the city
Concrete under your feet
It's in your moves, it's in your blood
You're a man of the street

awww what is going on with 2016 and losing all these amazing people!!!!

*big hugs*

i dont know a lot of the songs but my dad was always listening to the Eagles i remember the cassette case always being in the car, and listening to ' Take it to the Limit'

Thanks so much for sharing Lotus. In the 80s he incorporated more of the Detroit and Bluesy sound into his work. He worked a lot of sax into a lot of his solo stuff from that time period so it has a bit of a different sound from his work with the Eagles.

He left decades worth of material that will live on forever so I know he'll never really be "gone".

Not only was he a talented artist, from what I can tell in interviews he was also a pretty great human being.

Thanks NE All I can say is that it needs to stop now!