[ExI] Heroism without self-sacrifice

[Lee Corbin]

PJ Manney writes

> Most importantly, the hero should be reconceptualized through a
> redefinition of 'self' and of 'sacrifice', not by the removal of
> either, or you will suffer from a story about which the audience
> couldn't give a tinker's damn, having neither an empathetic
> protagonist, nor stakes to worry about.  We don't need to rewrite the
> myths from whole cloth.  If we did, they wouldn't work as well.  We
> merely need to rejig them to our purposes.

It sounds as though you've received the full blast of the anti-sacrifice
meme from your father and Ayn Rand. But seriously, why does heroic
conduct have to include self-sacrifice?  The way that the Romans
looked upon "Horatio at the Bridge" (reality at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatii)
is certainly an ancient, archytypical example. And, of course, the countless
heros who save others in floods and other disasters, have no component
of their behavior actually involving them deliberately giving up something.
(True, they're brave, they take risks, etc.)

To me, (and I gather to Max), it's sad that self-sacrifice has become an
often important component of heroism.

Lee