James Loewen

By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves....We fail to recognize that we could go and do likewise.
--Charles V. Willie

In Loewen's chapter, we see that we honor people that we shouldn't be honoring; at least that's what I got out of it. We only recognize people for the good things they've done in life and fail to realize their wrong doings. This is not true for everyone though. For others, we look at them for being a good person and we don't even know why they are a good person, like Helen Keller. This saying from Charles V. Willie goes along exactly with Loewen's point. I am one of the many Americans who have been pulled into my middle school history book and only learned the goodness in heroes and never even talked about how they either cheated the government, killed neighbors or stealing money. I totally agree with this epigraph. It's simply not right to honor those who don't deserve to be honored. I for one, myself, could save a few homeless people and call it a day. But do you see me in a history book?! Of course not, because I am no president or woman of color who has done a great deed to the nation. I feel like the people that I thought were my heroes now have no reason to be. For instance, Ryan Theriot is my hero. I only seem to look at what amazing plays he's made and don't even think about how he failed me in the playoffs this past week.

-Britt