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Posted on 10/25/2001 7:12:29 AM PDT by LiveFree2000

Even American heroes capable of being jerks

October 25, 2001

BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

When I was in New York last month, I spoke with an associate who told me that in the wake of the events of 9/11/01, she felt bad that she had regularly avoided walking past a certain Manhattan firehouse on her way to work.

"Every time I went by there, they'd whistle and say stuff about me," she said. "So I stopped going that way."

Now, that same firehouse was cloaked in grief. Flowers were piled up on the sidewalk, alongside candles and photos and handwritten notes of sympathy from friends and loved ones and schoolchildren. The firefighters who sat out front were no longer interested in wolf-whistling at the passing parade. They were too busy huddling in grief, talking in quiet tones, accepting condolences from passersby.

And I guess that's why my young colleague felt regret--because she had harbored not-so-positive thoughts about these men, and now some of them were dead, and others were in deep mourning.

I'll repeat to you what I told her--that even heroes can be jerks, and that she had nothing to regret.

In fact, anyone who's ever been a hero has also been a jerk at some point in his or her life. What makes a hero is not some superior inner goodness that eludes mere mortals, but the ability and courage to rise to an occasion, to risk one's life, in the name of reaching out to other human beings.

The firefighters and police officers and rescue workers who lost their lives on Sept. 11 were not wearing capes and costumes; they were not members of the Fantastic Four or some other league of superheroes. They were people. Married, single, divorced, widowed, gay. Some were wonderful parents and some were probably not. Some were known for their kindness and some were known for less admirable qualities.

And some probably treated women in a manner contrary to how they'd like their mothers, sisters and wives to be treated.

There's no shame in acknowledging that there was a current of jerkiness running through a few of those guys before they soared to the occasion and elevated their souls to the highest plane with their actions of 9/11/01.

You don't have to be a saint your whole life to be remembered as a hero in death.

* * *

By that same token, the rescue workers and the firefighters and the cops who stand strong today in New York City are worthy of every accolade, every benefit performance, every "thank you" they've been receiving--but that doesn't mean they're not capable of boorish behavior.

Such was the case last Saturday night at the Concert for New York, when a sizeable segment of the audience ripped Sen. Hillary Clinton when she took the stage to introduce a short film by Jerry Seinfeld. As you may have heard, a number of cops and firefighters booed and heckled Mrs. Clinton, calling for her to get off the stage. Mike Moran of the FDNY, who lost a brother on 9/11/01, took the stage at Saturday's event and said, "Osama bin Laden, you can kiss my royal Irish ass!" Moran appeared on Rush Limbaugh's radio show Tuesday and was asked by Limbaugh why Sen. Clinton was razzed so hard.

"I think when times are good and things are going well, people will sit there and listen to the kind of claptrap that comes out of her mouth," said Moran. "When things are going like this, when it's serious times and serious men who actually suffered losses, and she wants to spew her nonsense, she doesn't believe a thing she says. She says whatever she thinks will fit the moment, and I think that comes through. In serious times, people don't want to stand for it."

"So you didn't detect any sincerity at all, that's probably a big problem, then?" said Limbaugh.

"I don't think there's ever been a sincere word that's ever come out of her mouth," replied Moran.

I wouldn't go that far--but I have written columns that are largely in step with Moran's stated beliefs, especially when I was commenting on Mrs. Clinton's disingenuous embrace of New York City and state during her run for the Senate. What a phony. (As you'll recall, Rudy Giuliani withdrew from the race mainly because of his health. Can you imagine the whipping he'd hand her if they were running against each other for the Senate today? Would she get one vote in Manhattan?)

That said, the Saturday night dissing of Hillary was not cool. But you had a bunch of physically and emotionally exhausted guys enjoying a night of letting loose by quaffing beers and playing air guitar to the sounds of the Who--and they just weren't in the mood for Hillary Clinton at that moment.

So they were less than gracious. So they probably hurt her feelings. So her husband was reportedly seething backstage.

Ah, so what. The Clintons will survive. They survive everything.

Which is more than can be said for the comrades of some of those hecklers.

Richard Roeper is the author of Hollywood Urban Legends and Urban Legends, now available in paperback.

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