New age spiritual heroes

Who do we turn to for INSPIRATION in today's tumultous times ? Do we have a bank of HEROES the way we see them liberally sprinkled across our various History text books ?

Or... are we living in an era which does not have any Heroes anymore ?

Are the Heroes also too busy to be heroes anymore ??

Whom would we consider today's heroes ?

The Dalai Lama ? The late Mother Teresa ? George W Bush ? Tony Blair ? Zinedine Zidane ? Rahul Dravid ? Oprah Winfrey ? Deepak Chopra ? Robin Sharma ?

I don't know - I am sure each one will find their Hero in the list above !

Are there more heroes in Fiction today ?

Spiderman, Superman, The X-men, Agent Ethan Hunt from MI i/ii/iii, Shrek, etc.etc.

Maybe the world doesn't need real heroes and turns to these REEL Heroes instead ! :-)

I have been fascinated by a certain Reel Hero - someone I have been "watching" for some time now.

He's a modern hero facing the most "modern" times ( read - terror !)

He's Jack Bauer from the hit TV series 24.

I am sure most of you would have seen him in action !

I wanted to analyse his character to see if he is today's IDEAL HERO ! Have a dekko at what I picked up from a wikipedia entry.

Characteristics

Jack Bauer has characteristics marking him as a "flawed hero". He holds similarities to many Greek heroes, having a "tragic flaw" that dictates his rise to power and, inevitably, will dictate his downfall. Jack's employment at CTU has given him many survival skills that have kept him alive, yet his tenure at CTU can be held liable for many, if not all, of Jack's misfortunes (losing his wife at the end of Season One, his addiction to heroin during Season Three, the emotional "loss" of Audrey Raines, his love interest in Season Four, the lives of some of his closest friends, his job at CTU, and his own "death".)

Bauer's behavior and actions are consistent with the philosophy "the ends justify the means". When innocent lives are in danger he behaves as though obtaining a desired result is more important than how he obtains it, and he frequently performs controversial actions if he thinks they will achieve an important goal. His philosophy was perhaps best expressed after he shot and killed a witness in front of George Mason, then-CTU Special Agent in Charge. George expressed dismay at Jack's extreme action, and Jack replied: "That's the problem with people like you, George. You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty."

Lying, torture, stealing, and even cold-blooded murder are all viable options to Jack, a stark contrast to the vast majority of fictional heroes. Comparisons with the very people he battles are inevitable. As stated by George Mason in Day 1, "Rules don't apply to Jack Bauer. He does what he wants, when he wants, and he doesn't care whose life it affects."

Jack Bauer is also a master of interrogation. He often uses extreme physical force or psychological stress to retrieve the information he needs. At other times, Jack has threatened the lives and/or well being of terrorists’ families. Jack himself is also adept at handling interrogation, as shown in Season 2, proving terrorist Ronnie Stark's point, "Everyone breaks, Jack, even you," to be incorrect. Jack has withstood knife carvings, electrocutions, and injections without confessing. During one torture session, he was accidentally put into cardiac arrest, but was revived with emergency measures. Jack was soon portrayed as a character who could remain perceptive under pressure when, several minutes after his revival, he was able to escape with the help of a nearby doctor.

Jack has routinely put his and his family's life on the line, as well as the lives of those close to him, in order to serve the greater good. Notably, he was faced with a situation where a terrorist threatened to release a devastating biological weapon if Jack did not execute one of his superiors, Regional Director Ryan Chappelle. Despite efforts to locate the terrorist before the deadline, Bauer was forced to execute Chappelle. In the fourth season, Bauer was told to extract a Chinese scientist named Lee Jong from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, who had vital information needed to stop an imminent terrorist strike. During the illegal raid, Lee was shot and needed immediate medical attention to stop him from dying. When he arrived at CTU, Bauer learned that the doctor there was already working on Paul Raines, the estranged husband of Audrey Raines (Jack's then girlfriend). Raines had been shot earlier trying to push Jack out of the way of a gunman. Much to Audrey's horror, Bauer drew his weapon and ordered the doctor to begin surgery on Lee. Raines went into cardiac arrest and died shortly afterward.

Jack Bauer is rarely seen showing remorse for such actions until after the crisis has passed. This is largely due to his emotional suppression necessary to complete the task at hand. He has on occasion revealed his more vulnerable side, including a notable scene at the end of Season 3 when he breaks down crying after the traumatic events of the day.
Following the death of his wife at the end of Season 1, he seemed to live a life that had little personal purpose. To Jack Bauer, there is no separation of his personal life and his duty. As he said to Chase Edmunds, his partner during Season 3: "You cannot do this job and have a normal life at the same time."[5].

Having gone through his CHARACTERISTICS, my question is - Is Jack Bauer the new age HERO ? Real, Flawed, Emotional - but very very FOCUSED ( to the extent of being RUTHLESS !) on the GREATER GOAL and GOOD.

I have watched all 5 seasons of 24 - and enjoyed every riveting suspenseful minute of it - but I have been contemplating on this extremely complex anti-hero - Jack Bauer.

Do we need people like Bauer in today's world ? Or would he just be an overkill ? Is he the DOUBLE EDGED Sword that this world needs to face all the evil ? Or Is the evil just over hyped to suit certain agendas ? Is there a Bauer in all of us ? - just waiting to get out ? Or is his Realness too Real ?

This is the first post on NEW AGE SPIRITUAL HEROES ! Cheers !