Is John Glenn the only hero left in America?

DAVID M. PETROU, Eisner, Petrou & Associates, Inc. It's a symptom of our post-Vietnam, post-Watergate cynicism to say we live in an age devoid of heroes. And particularly in this year when the media fixation on scandal is evidently insatiable, that unfortunate viewpoint has only deepened. In part, our adulation of John Glenn - a genuine hero from a somewhat more innocent era - is in direct proportion to the daily debunking that's endemic to our tabloid age. We began the century with legendary, almost mythic figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Queen Victoria dominating the world stage. And we're ending it largely in the shadow of dwarfs. Why? It's because we so desperately long to look up to people who seem larger than life or somehow 'better' than we are.