Has the word "hero" been so overused that it's losing its meaning?
These three recent examples show how people are employing the term. You decide if the usage is appropriate.
On CBS News, Melissa Castellanos tells viewers that "the Super Senior who bravely fought-off jewel thieves with her handbag has been unmasked. She's [a] 71-year old grandmother ... and she's being called a hero by her community."
Illinois has banned the death penalty, becoming the sixteenth state to abolish capital punishment for convicted prisoners. Gov. Patrick Quinn signed the bill to end the practice and commuted the sentences of 15 inmates who had been on the state's Death Row.
In a report for Newscast, Cheryl Corley reports:
The abolition of the death penalty in Illinois has been in the making for 11 years. It was in the year 2000 that then-Gov.George Ryan issued a moratorium on executions, after 13 inmates condemned to death had their sentences overturned.
In court Wednesday afternoon, Loughner pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges, which include murder, attempted murder and using a gun in a crime of violence.
Egyptian protesters credit the nearly 400 people killed during the revolution for inspiring them to force President Hosni Mubarak from power, and they vow to keep fighting for democratic reforms and to give the sacrifice meaning.
Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf assured a crowd during a recent visit to Cairo's Tahrir Square that the blood of the "martyrs" was not spilled in vain.
