Two Star Heroes

* * Two Star Heroes * *

Sorry, old chap - but it could have been worse! You've tapped one of my earlier heroes in life, but these rate two stars because their glow still lingers for me. I still get turned on by their charisma, even though I've outgrown their influence on me. In tribute, let me dwell a bit on why.

Fred Astaire...
dancer with such exquisite grace, singer with such engaging simplicity . . . Music has always been a closet life of mine. I have no skill at it whatever, but it occupies a complete layer of my being, and I seriously think that it was my fullness in an earlier life - popular music. Clues I've had suggest I may have been either a dancer or a pianist. Fred Astaire is at least as much an icon and symbol for me as a real-life hero. He was not good-looking but he triumphed in spite of it in a medium that regarded good looks as the sine qua non. He took his art to the ultimate of perfection, and by the sheer beauty of it he won everyone's heart.

Jim Thorpe...
was another who triumphed over impossible odds, though in an entirely different realm. As some may not know, he was a Native American who emerged into athletic prominence early in the century, at a time when - even in sports - ethnicity was an absolute barrier. It required perfection, and Jim Thorpe had it. He was indisputably the best all-'round football player that ever played the game - and very possibly the best all-'round athlete. He won that honor in the 1912 Olympics, and then had it withdrawn from him for innocently having partaken in semi-pro athletics prior to the event. For the twin aspects of athletic prowess and his underdog status, he holds a strong two-star rank in my pantheon.

Wyatt Earp...
. . . well, who has to explain Wyatt Earp? He was my western hero ever since I first read about Tombstone and the OK Corral gunfight, which may very well be America's ranking legend by now. But he still fascinates me for two reasons. One is simply that he came through it all and lived to a ripe old age, dying within my own lifetime by a few years - a rather rare accomplishment for that particular genre of heroes. The other is because of a peculiar historical dilemma that has developed around his exploits. He seems to have straddled the fence that divides the good guys from the bad, in our simplistic imagery, and it poses a real problem for those who see morality in black/white terms. For me, however, Wyatt provides a meditation on the reality of grey areas and ambiguity, without which we wouldn't be human.

Each of this trio - each in a different way - has underdog status . . . and that suggests the clue you can take with you for another try at this hero game. You not only have, now, three fewer names to choose from, but I'll give you the broad hint that my top pantheon were all outsiders in their day, and by much more of a margin than these three.

And now, back to the Gnome page you go.