All My Heroes Are Certifiably Insane

The heroes who inspire me all died some time ago, but to me they're more alive now than ever.

So who are these certifiably insane, dead, living heroes?

Let's start with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a poor soul who lacked the common sense to leave Nazi Germany when offered safe passage to American soil.

No. Worse than that. He took up the offer, and did visit America.

And then didn't have the common sense to stay. The year was 1939.

I celebrate his uncommon sense.

Bonhoeffer explained his rationale to his friend Reinhold Niebuhr.

"I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people... Christians in Germany will have to face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose but I cannot make that choice from security.

So he returned to Germany where he involved himself in Christian ministry under a watchful Nazi eye. His story cannot be done justice in a small blog, so I'll simply note that he was killed by the Nazis just a week or two before the war ended.

Certifiably insane. By most reckoning.

My hero, nevertheless.

Today, I am reminded of this blog because I've added another name to my list of heroes: Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a Catholic priest who spoke out against communism in Poland during the 80s. He and Bonhoeffer were truly cut from the same cloth. Neither had the common sense to abandon sinking ships.

After a failed assassination attempt on his life, he was offered a stay in Italy by his superior, but he refused to leave Poland. On October 19th, 1984 he was murdered by three officers of the Służba Bezpieczeństwa.

Certifiably insane. By most reckoning.

My hero, nevertheless. But whereas Bonhoeffer died quietly in a dark corner of Nazi Germany, Popieluszko died under the watchful eye of all of Poland. He was a national hero even before he died. Largely because he was insane. He stood up in a pulpit, Sunday after Sunday, and made himself a red-circled target for the authorities by calling them out for what they were: cowards and bullies.

When the bullies killed him, 800,000 sane Poles attended his funeral. It was one of the big tipping points for Poland on its march to freedom from Communist rule.

There are others, of course. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes to mind, along with less well-known names like Jim Elliot.

All the best heroes are insane.

After all, who but the most insane would follow a man who said this?

Matthew 16:24-45
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

Sane people don't rally to this call.

But then again, sanity is in the eye of the beholder.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." — Jim Elliot

Those words aren't crazy. They are logical. The question is this:

Are we insane enough to believe them?