Who Gets the Statue?

SURVEY: What’s the reward for a true systemic hero who saves the world from destruction?

1. A Time magazine cover
2. Nobel Peace prize, definitely
3. A huge statue in his hometown
4. Big thank you and from world leaders
5. A huge sum of money
6. Zero, just the knowledge of saving the world

1962. International waters off Cuba. Russia and the US in a cold war, about to become a hot war, and each could fry the earth 10 times over with nuclear weapons. Vasily Arkhipov, a shy, humble, intelligent son of peasants, was deputy commander of a Russian sub with nuclear warheads. To launch those required Arkhipov, the sub commander Savitsky (playing the role of everyone's boss ever), and the Communist political officer, all to unanimously agree to launch.

 

Communications with Moscow were cut off due to technical difficulties, so the sub was on its own. When his sub was in perceived danger due to depth charges from an American cruiser, his commanding officer and the Communist functionary demanded to launch the ballistic nuclear warheads, thus surely triggering a nuclear war. Arkhipov was unconvinced that the American sub was trying to destroy them, and wanted to be cautious about the balance between risk of destruction and risk of killing billions of people. So does he fist fight the political officer, or back down by launching the missiles, or surface the sub to see what’s happening before starting the war to end all life? What would you have done in such a situation?

Ultimately, Arkhipov's courage in standing up to his boss and doing the right thing prevented the destruction of earth. What was his reward - a Nobel Peace prize? A Time magazine cover? Statues around the world in his honor? Of course not. Systemic heroes save lives and futures every day, but never expect a reward, as that is reserved for those who write history on behalf of entitled elites.

Who gets the statues and the history books? The guys who start the wars and win the wars, never the people who prevent death and destruction in the first place. When we glorify the war-mongers (not those poor souls forced to fight those wars), we enable that meme and enable the mentality of war-mongers.

Answer: #6 - Zero, just the knowledge of saving the world - is unfortunately correct (with rare exceptions).



 

An enlightening example. I probably would have risked my job and life by refusing, even though some of my thoughts would have been hammering at me to follow orders. Thankfully, I have never been put in such a position. What happened to humanity's Russian hero?

I agree, most heroes receive nothing but the knowledge of saving many other lives. There are countless fictional spy movies about this but in reality the best heroes are silent like what the stars represent on the CIA Memorial Wall. As stated, history books are written for or by the winners so usually glorify the winners of wars and death, not those who prevent it which is misplaced.