Atticus Finch a hero of yours?
Yes. But guess what - all my heroes are dead. I saw a couple of threads at Breitbart and Newsbusters on this a week or so ago. Thought it funny to see all the missy prissypants types wetting their undergarments.
I used to think of my dad when I would contemplate Atticus. Humble as a church-mouse. Honesty so painful you'd think it a new pair of shoes. Wiser than any man I had met before - or since. Rose from leading a dogsled team to being in the inner circle at Boeing. Then knocked on his ass to become a truck driver. Then rising back up within a band or two of the golden circle once again.
The ravages of time and circumstance beat the hell out of him. He buried far too many of his children and grandchildren. What age alone couldn't accomplish Alzheimer's stepped in to lay waste. When he was in his 80's he was still the man I adored but only a shadow of his former self.
Then I regard Atticus and see myself. I was for most of my life, a "live and let live" semi-libertarian. As long as you didn't mess with me & mine I mostly didn't GAS. Now I look at 7 years of constant warfare against everything I believe in. I see the battles waged and the battles lost. I see the bottom-feeders feeding at my table and, like Superman's "Bizarro World" everything decent shunned and every tawdry, obscenity set on high. Live & let live has given way to "Get the F away from me if you want to live!"
The spear-chucker gazes at me at an intersection and is taken aback because he looks me in the eye and sees that I'm calculating the closing distance and now many rounds it would take to finish him off (Double-tap - it's like a courtesy flush).
So why can't Atticus grow crustier with age?
All I know is sooner or later I will read the book and find out for myself if it's credible.