What is a hero? Someone who is extraordinarily brave or kind? Someone who does something dangerous or revolutionary? In essence, a heroic act, as sociology defines, evolves from a deviant act. An act of deviance is a violation of contextual, cultural, or social norms. That’s all well and good from a sociologist’s perspective, but what is it that makes us, as individuals in society, decide the difference between heroism and deviance? If you look at history, you will see that the majority of the people we call “heroes” directly defied laws, orders, or societal rules for the sake of others.

Let’s take a look at two heroes, one from our world history and one from recent American history, and look at what made them heroes. Corrie Ten Boom was 48, unmarried, and living in Haarlem, Holland with her father and older sister when the Nazis took over their country in 1940. Throughout the years of the Nazi occupation, Corrie and her family harbored many Jews in their home and helped them escape the country or found places for them to live in the Dutch countryside. The Ten Booms were highly involved in the Dutch Underground in saving Jewish families from being shipped to concentration camps. In fact, after a year and a half, Corrie’s home became the center of an underground ring that spread throughout Holland. Unfortunately, on February 28, 1944, Corrie, her sister Betsie, and her father were arrested. Her father died ten days later, but Corrie and Betsie remained in a series of prisons and concentration camps in Holland and Germany. They continued to serve and comfort those around them in the concentration camps. They held religious services in secret and many people came to hear the words of the bible and to worship quietly together. Betsie died on December 16, 1944 at Ravensbruck concentration camp. Corrie was released, due to a clerical error, one week before the women of her age were scheduled to be killed in Ravensbruck just twelve days after Betsie's death. After she was released, she traveled Holland and Europe, sharing her story and teaching others of forgiveness and love.

There are hundreds of people, like her, who saved Jews from a horrible fate. Many of these people saved more lives than she did: Giorgio Perlasca (estimated 5,000 Jews saved), Chiune Sugihara (estimated 6,000 Jews saved), Frank Foley (estimated 10,000 Jews saved), and Raoul Wallenberg (estimated 100,000 Jews and refugees saved). So why is it that most people only know the story of Corrie Ten Boom, who, with her family, saved an estimated 800 people, and not the story of Raoul Wallenberg who, through the issue of illegal passports and offering his home as a safe house, saved an estimated 100,000 people from the Holocaust? What made her act of deviance and defiance from the Nazi rule more heroic than the others? Corrie, for one thing, was a woman. It is viewed as more remarkable when a woman does a heroic, dangerous act than a man. This is because men are often associated with dangerous, life-threatening lifestyles. Men are almost supposed to and expected to be brave and heroic. In addition, Corrie was caught and captured. She was punished and suffered dearly for her bravery and kindness and then continued to love and care for those in the concentration camp. This is more memorable than some of the others mentioned who were in positions of power (government positions, emissaries, ambassadors, etc.) and were not caught or severely punished. Another reason is the publicity. You may have heard of Corrie’s book, The Hiding Place. Corrie Ten Boom also traveled Europe telling thousands of her story and of the power of forgiveness and God’s love. As you can see, becoming a hero in the eyes of society involves much more than simply a heroic act.

Let’s look at another hero in more recent history: Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger. Sullenberger had been a commercial pilot for 29 years and had spent several of those years as an airline safety instructor. On January 15, 2009, Sullenberger was piloting a U.S. Airways plane when a flock of geese were struck and caught in the engines just after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Both engines were damaged and no longer providing any thrust. He discussed options with the air traffic control and was told to fly back to LaGuardia Airport or to continue to the next nearest airport, the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Sullenberger knew how dire the situation was and knew there wasn’t enough time for either option without putting the lives of the passengers in danger. So he directly disobeyed orders and ditched (performed an emergency water landing) the plane in the Hudson River. The landing was successful and the crew was able to evacuate the 155 passengers safely, Sullenberger being the last to exit the plane. Everyone aboard the plane survived and only a few suffered minor injuries. Sullenberger was immediately recognized, praised, and thanked from thousands of people for his bravery and heroism.

Here we see another act of deviance (directly disobeying the orders of the air traffic control) that was hailed as an act of heroism. There are countless incidents of planes striking birds, some catastrophic and some with only minor damages. The defining factor here that made Sullenberger a hero, is the deviance and publicity. If Sullenberger went ahead and landed the plane the way the air traffic control told him, and everyone survived, there would be significantly less applause. It would be a small news story, “a plane was hit by a flock of geese, the plane landed safely back at the airport and everyone was fine,” and people would say, “oh that’s nice,” and move on. But because it was an act of deviance, a direct defiance and disobedience to orders, he was recognized for his heroism. The publicity was also a major factor in making Sullenberger a known hero. He was personally thanked by President George W. Bush, President-Elect Barack Obama, and the Senate and House of Representatives. The movie Sully starring Tom Hanks and directed by Clint Eastwood was released in September of 2016, spreading his story to millions of people.

So what makes a person a hero in the eyes of society? It takes much more than an act of heroism as many would say it should be. It is a combination of many circumstances and factors, the foremost being deviance and publicity. But to further question this model, what is the real difference between heroism and deviance? One comes from the other, but what makes one act of deviance later known as heroic and another act of deviance only remembered by the few involved? Here is where publicity comes in. Publicity will take the act of defiance and, if it saved or helped others or was emotionally touching in any way, create a heroic act. There are “heroes” everywhere performing everyday acts of heroism. You don’t have to be a hero in the eyes of society to be a hero in the eyes those whose lives you touch.