Agreed. Hero has become quite relative. Relatively speaking then she is a hero I guess. She fought back and was captured and I'm sure endured some very nasty stuff.
I'd say she was brave and lucky.
Many here have lowered the bar since she is a woman. that is only part of the problem.
Why any country would willingly expose young women to this is beyond me...brave or not.
I guess any soldier who fires back is a hero...to a degree I guess. It's a bit vexing. When I grew up (as you), the benchmark for heroism was much much higher and alas heroes were more often killed than not.
American education has been dumbed down and the English language so debased, that few appear to know what common words mean. A "
HERO "( heroine, for a female ; please note ! )is
NOT someone who does what they are supposed to be doing and have been trained to do. John McCaine is
NOT a " hero ", simply because he was a POW; neither is Lynch a " heroine " because she was a POW and has now been recused. People, who do
extraorinary things, spectacularly well, above and beyong the CALL OF DUTY , are heros and / or heroines.
Brave, lucky,plucky, even couragous, are words that can be and SHOULD be applied to Lynch.
We grew up in a world far different and to us, as to our parents, grandparents, great grandparents...as far back as on can go, the word HERO, was something quite special and hardly ever given to anyone. That's when the rest of us could look up in awe, to actual HEROS and not have to wonder why.