My Dakar when 40 plan is currently in (likely) permanent non-start, but that can’t stop me from reading dirt bike magazines. In this month’s Dirt Bike, the From the Saddle column is about Heros. Here is the (first) important part.

Here’s the problem with heroes: They’re people. Very few are able live up to the honor. In fact, most of them don’t.

This is important to life in general, but also in the testing field. Too often the people put others up on a pedestal based on their articles in magazines, books they have published, mailing list participation, etc.. I think it is far healthier to respect someone rather than hero-ize them. I’ve met a lot of people in the testing and agile-testing community and as a whole they are all human (so far as I can tell). They can be arrogant, boring, childish and petty. But they can also be brilliant, insightful, compassionate and respectful. It is less of a blow when someone you respect takes a blow than someone you consider a hero.

He ends the column with an equally paragraph.

Along the way, I’ve met lots of other former heroes. Like I said, most didn’t deserve it. But having heroes is the point; meeting them isn’t. The bottom line is, they make you want to be something better.

I should add, to offset something that often comes with heroes; better does not mean exactly like your hero. The testing world already has one of them, we need you to be yourself.