4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Apollo 13 commander's death highlights a sad reality: America is short on heroes
'Houston, we've had a problem.' Those words, from astronaut James Lovell to NASA, gripped the world for four days in 1970 as astronauts on Apollo 13 worked furiously to get back to earth after an oxygen tank exploded.
Apollo 13 was the most well-known of Lovell's space flights but he flew three other missions and held the world record for time in space with 715 hours, 4 minutes and 57 seconds — a record later broken in 1973 by the Skylab 2 mission.
Last week, when Lovell passed away at the age of 97, we lost an American hero. But his death also felt like something more: the sunsetting of an era when we celebrated people for what they achieved, not how famous they could become.
A shift has taken place in our society away from Olympic athletes and astronauts and toward reality television stars and social media influencers.
The idea of shared heroes, the kinds whose posters hung on bedroom walls of kids across America, encouraging them to aim higher and dream bigger, seems to be slipping away.
Posters of Chicago Bulls players, Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan hung on my wall when I was a kid and played basketball. I never dreamed of playing professionally, but they showed me what could be possible if you work hard: You can be successful and achieve your goals.
Lovell, too, showed America what can happen when talent, discipline and opportunity meet.
Fame — for Pippen, Jordan and Lovell — was a byproduct, not the point. But somewhere along the way, that has flipped. Today, anyone can be famous without having to do anything remarkable.
The Kardashians are a much-discussed example. They're famous — not because of gold medals or moon landings, nor are they particularly talented — but because they allowed cameras to follow their daily lives. Now the Kardashians run a business empire that was born from their celebrity status rather than actual achievement.
Compare that to Lovell, who managed to command a space mission that seemed destined to fail. The contrast reveals how we've redefined heroism.
The belief that greatness comes through dedication, sacrifice and the pursuit of excellence has been upended. Recognition — a certain kind, anyway — now comes from viral videos on social media, not by adding meaningfully to society or changing the course of history.
Social media has made fame easier to achieve but harder to sustain. We've lost shared heroes, the type who inspired kids across the country to lay in bed at night and wonder how they might achieve greatness themselves.
This isn't to diminish social media influencers or their entrepreneurial success. Nor is it to suggest that all viral content lacks value. Rather, it's to observe that we've created a system where the path to recognition has become disconnected from the types of achievements that historically defined American heroes. We are the poorer for it.
When Lovell and his Apollo 13 crew returned to earth after four harrowing days, America celebrated because their story of survival felt like a shared experience. That kind of shared pride seems rare these days.
Fewer moments bind our culture together in collective awe. While heroes still exist — in classrooms, research labs and in our local communities — their stories are harder to spot, swamped by trending videos and celebrity gossip.
Lovell didn't become famous because he wanted the spotlight. He became famous because, when everything went wrong, he stayed calm, used his training and brought Apollo 13 home safely. He was extraordinarily brave. That kind of heroism stands the test of time.
If we allow fame to replace accomplishment, we risk losing more than American heroes. We lose a shared culture of American heroism that has long united us.
Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@
