When Heroes Become Villains and Villains Become Heroes

Ever care to check out the History books and wonder why it’s awfully similar to children’s bedtime stories? In children stories, good guys always win and bad guys always lose; such as the case in past events depicted in a scientific discipline called History. Not that I question the validity of methods used to gather historical information; there’s nothing wrong with them. The problem is, history is written by winner(s). Obviously, it gives them the prerogative to write anything they want. Or at least rephrase the account to fit their agenda.

So, don’t be surprised if yesterday’s hero suddenly turns into today’s villain and vice versa. That sort of thing did happen, when a regime fell and their successor felt the need to make certain “adjustment” to point out their better qualities compared to the old regime. Most of the time, the authority didn’t even have to make any justification about his rightness, because the people had already changed their view concerning the matter. Just look at Hitler. One day he was the national hero and the next day he was damned by the whole nation. Hitler was a villain for killing (or ordering to kill) a lot of innocent people and causing havoc all over Europe. But considering what he did for his people, gave them the sense of confidence and pride after suffering the agonizing defeat of WW I---no wonder the Germans saw him as hero.

Don’t be surprised either to see someone that you perceive as villain is considered hero by others. I read some time ago that the Koreans were extremely mad at Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for visiting Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine was built to honor the memory of the Japanese soldiers died during the Second World War. The soldiers who didn’t deserve any respect whatsoever considering what they did during the war, according to the Koreans (and people from other Asian countries who were under Japan’s aggression during WW II). Actually, the sentiments of both parties are understandable. Japan military administration in Asia did many upsetting deeds during WW II, from compelling the locals to hard labor to forcing women to satisfy their lust. On the other hand, the Japanese must’ve been very proud of their army for protecting the country and sharing their ideals all across East Asia.

No matter how much it seems to be oversimplified at times, History is in fact very complex. Because humans are such complicated beings, it’s expectable to have everything about their life equally as complicated. And in real life, nobody is truly evil or truly good. Good guys and bad guys couldn’t easily be defined just like in the children stories. All heroes have their flaws, just like all villains have the good in them.

Even though History is prone to manipulation and multi-interpretation, it doesn’t mean that History is not important. We could learn a lot by ruminating over the past. By learning from the past, hopefully we would be able to follow the ideal of our predecessor and at the same time, prevent us from doing the same mistake as they did. What must be underlined here is that History set examples, not moral values. History gives means of evaluation, not judgment.

The truth is, there’s no such thing as “Hero” and “Villain”. Only real people, living their life, merely doing their job. Point blank.