Does it Matter How A Hero Dies?
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On September 3, 2007, Steve Fossett set off for a short flight over the Nevada desert and never returned . For days and then months, friends, family and fans clung to hopes that Fossett, an experienced hiker with outdoor survivor skills, would be found alive.
For a seasoned aviator like Fossett, who had crashed all over the world in planes and balloons and walked away, this short flight was like a trip to the corner grocery store. It seems like a cruel irony that he died on a short easy flight on a clear beautiful morning.
Despite searches by the Civil Air Patrol , private planes, and Google’s satellite images, Fossett and his plane have never been found.
If he had died on one of his numerous record-breaking flights, Fossett would have been mourned as a hero, someone who set out to defy the odds. His death would have been dramatic and the media would have celebrated his achievements as heroic.
There was no funeral, no closure for the millions of us who followed his exploits and identified vicariously with his courage and sense of adventure. There is no heroic image of this extraordinary man doing what seems ordinary to so many pilots. Fossett simply dropped off our radar.
Last week, a judge in Chicago declared Fossett legally dead so his wife Peggy and lawyers for his estate could begin the process of executing his will.
Does the way a hero dies make a difference in how he is remembered? I think so. I think Fossett would have preferred his last moments to be a 29,000-foot plummet into the Coral Sea off Australia because of a storm-shredded balloon.
What do you think?
2 Comments
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When I crashed my airplane through power lines, while avoiding a mid-air collision,a thought flashed through my mind ” WHAT A GLAMOROUS WAY TO EXIT THIS WORLD “. Having survived it, I guess I am destined to do it in bed, surrounded by my loved ones, holding my hand, with the press and tabloids none the wiser for this monumental event. Each of us has to conclude for themselves which is a better scenario. Jim.
Comment by Jim Charnes — February 29, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
That’s the thing about death - the ending we might imagine for ourselves is seldom the ending we get. A normal guy, having done nothing particularly extraordinary in his life, can suddenly jump onto subway tracks to save a complete stranger, only to die as a hero. And an adventurer like Fossett, having defied death on so many occasions, can lose an engine on an uneventful, routine flight. I suppose death doesn’t really care, or perhaps death just has a sense of irony.
Comment by Emily — February 29, 2008 @ 3:21 pm