IRVINE, CA--With the anniversary of September 11, Americans have remembered and lauded as heroes our fire and policemen, as we should. But the commemorative ceremonies also caused many of us to reflect on the nature of heroism. "What makes great heroes great?" asks Scott McConnell, communications director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"Consider some of the West's greatest heroes," McConnell said:

* Galileo, who challenged the dogmas and irrationalities of the time and helped establish the scientific method

* Thomas Jefferson, who struggled for more than 40 years to create and preserve the freest society in the world

* Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford and other industrialists who spent decades, often alone, to build empires and create billions of dollars in wealth and opportunity   

"What these individuals have in common," McConnell said, "is a profound dedication to a self-generated, long-term struggle for creative goals that produce the values that make life possible, free and prosperous."  

What motivates these individuals to their heroic acts?

"Not the selfless desire to serve others," said McConnell. "They are motivated by self-enhancement; by the joy derived from their independence, their creativity, their use of their productive minds. Even our fire and policemen are not motivated by selfless service. They too seek and gain great personal satisfaction and pride from their work. They are motivated primarily by their personal code to defend a world where justice and safety prevail."

"It is an important moral point," McConnell said, "that great creators are not giving their lives for others, but are discovering and creating life-enhancing values. Man requires knowledge to survive, but he is born without knowledge. It is creative geniuses such as Galileo, Jefferson, and Carnegie who struggle to discover and apply knowledge. That is why the heroes for whom we should cheer loudest are the creative geniuses. They are the inspiring life givers on whom we have always depended."

ARI director of communications Scott McConnell is available for interviews on this topic.