In another addition to my Heroes Week postings I thought about the question as to who exactly is a hero. What is it about a person that makes them worthy of being given the title of Hero. My first step in answering this question was to do a quick search for definitions of hero. I came upon the following:

"a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength" - Definition from Princeton Wordnet

"1 a : a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability b : an illustrious warrior c : a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d : one that shows great courage b : the central figure in an event, period, or movement 4. an object of extreme admiration and devotion" - This definition from the Miriam Webster Online Dictionary.

There are a few words and phrases which to me stuck out: Courage, legendary, achievements and noble qualities, and central figure. So of course it follows that for somebody to be given the title of hero, they have to have fulfilled most or all of the qualities in the definitions listed above.

As far as Jamaica's National Heroes we have: Samuel Sharpe - A man who despite being a slave, due to his education also rose up to become a religious leader, who led slaves from Montego Bay to Rebel in the famous Baptist Rebellion which in turn was believed to have caused parliamentary enquiries which lead to the abolition of slavery. Here is certainly somebody who is hero worthy, here we have a person who was living under the most negative conditions but who still managed to rise up and get people to rise up with him and fight against the powers that be and also led to the abolition of slavery, helping slaves all over the Caribbean (not only in Jamaica).

Next Marcus Garvey. Again a man who was not born into wealth or into good fortune, but managed to rise up and lead the pan-africanist movement, teaching black people in America and the Caribbean to be proud of their heritage and to stop thinking about themselves in a negative light. He lead black people to read and learn their heritage and become proud. Of course somebody like Marcus Garvey deserves to be a hero, He led essentially the first black pride movement in the 20th century which had far reaching effects in civil rights in the USA and elsewhere in the world.

The same goes for Jamaica's other national heroes as well. None of the heroes have been added to the cadre of national heroes of Jamaica without being born Jamaican and having done some immense and world (or Jamaica) changing acts.

At the same time one has to also consider recent calls for certain people to be given the title of National Hero. People such as Robert 'Bob' Marley, Herb McKinley, even Usain Bolt have all been a part of the recent calling by the public of people who should be elevated to the status. Should these people really be given that status however?

Just something to think about