Most heroes know all about the ordinary people, as they have had to save them in many situations, mostly of minor significance, and also know it is impossible for the ordinary to be a hero. Rather than embarrass those that cannot, they choose (subconsciously or consciously) to state their actions as normal or inconsequential. Normal and relatively inconsequential for them, impossible for the ordinary.

Karl Boettcher, Apple Valley, California

Unfortunately the word 'hero' is much overused. Currently, if you play football, particularly for one of the bigger clubs, all you have to do to be a hero is score a goal, preferably a equalizer. You can 'heroically' do no more than watch something else happen in your vicinity, without joining in in any way. There is probably proper heroic actions taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis, unfortunately these are unpopular situations and we don't get to hear about it (and I don't include the Navy/Marine hostages in this, they did nothing heroic).

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Have just started reading a book called "The Righteous among Nations" those gentiles in WWII who also saw the brutalism that was going around them and tried to help the Jews at great risk to themselves and their family. Its proved fascinating in seeing that these people came from all walks of life and backgrounds. But they all had the same motivation that they wouldn’t just stand by. Real hero’s considering the odds and the situations they were in at the time.

P. Bentley, aberdeen, UK

At the risk of teaching English to the English, Webster's has 'heroic' as 'supremely self-sacrificing', while 'decent' is defined as 'marked by moral integrity; fairly good'--ya might recall the adage/tongue twister 'a decent docent doesn't doze'. Perhaps we could all be heroes to each other. Re Zimbardo's thoughtful question, 'do heroes ever contemplate the risks', I checked, and yes, they do.

glen broemer, los angeles, ca

A very informative write up which delves deep into the realms of our human behaviour, its psyche and its subtle nuances. It exposes the underlying facts as to how we behave or react under the stress or influence of situations or happenings. Such mock or simulated situational experiments, as conducted by Dr. Zambardo, more famously known as "Stanford Prison Experiment" , shows that our mind behaves differently under different situations.
Prior ot this experiement by Dr. Zimbardo, most psychologists believed that our human behaviour is more a "person-centric", with attributes like genes, temperaments, personality traits, social and family virtues forming the ingredients of it. Stanford Prison experiment in contrast, focuses on "situation-centric" approach , with external factors like milieu, or ambience , peer groups and level of stress and role playing areas , decides how a person behaves. Be it normal, abnormal or eccentric.They bring out the brutal truth and are eye openers.

Sanjeev Dheer, New Delhi, India

Being a kid of '77 i grew up with a lot of heroes. I thankfully had a good mother who read me fairy tales and got me started on my love of myths and legends. I would never consider myself a hero in those terms as i dont have magical swords , speak to the gods etc. But those things are just metaphors. I believe the idea of heroes is too inspire , to give hope and help parents teach right from wrong.
When kids play at been heroes it just reinforces the ideas i know it did for me. One thing said about why the superhero movies have done so well at the box office is because there had been for many years a drought of big heroes. I have even heard a child comment on another childs bad behaviour 'thats not what spiderman would do' If thats not influencing in a postive way i dont know what is .

R.Hempel, Harrow,