There was a guy in Norwich the other day who rammed his car into a runaway bus to prevent it from crashing into a group of (no doubt carefree and innocent) children. The car was a Vauxhall Zafira, but it is not thought that the driver, Dean Sutcliffe, was trying to write it off for insurance purposes. In fact, it is even alleged that Sutcliffe, who subsequently leapt aboard the bus and engaged the handbrake, was behaving like a "hero". Which prompts the question: what's that then?

I've been led to understand that, in days gone yore, heroism was a trait shared by many. After all, our parents/grandparents/greatgrandparents fought in wars, where they would be expected to risk their lives to protect their country. This sacrifice for a selfless goal would trickle down into civic behaviour, it is said, hence the commonplace stopping of robbers in the street, the standing up for of principles, and the saving of children from ponds etc.

"Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods," wrote Norman Mailer, who was wrong. There may have been an element of doing things that the powers that be would not wish, but there has always been - too - an aspect of simply doing things that are generally held to be good, but are just a little too risky for the common human.

It is now thought that such a willingness is in decline. Blame it on what you will - the death of God, the breakdown of community, the news pages of the Daily Mail - we hear of a general reluctance among the public to engage in anything that might risk their wellbeing and a reluctance to assume responsibility for anything that is not in their own interest. Mr Sutcliffe's actions are seen to be an exception.

(If this is true, there may be an upside. If there are fewer men wading in to break up fights between other, drunker, men - common or garden have-a-go heroism - there might also be fewer men being checked into casualty on a Saturday night.)

But an absence of traditional bravery does not mean we are without heroes. It just means they're something different nowadays. By far the most common application of the term today is found in the sentence "[Insert name here] is my hero". From footballers to film stars to - bless - politicians, being a modern hero is simply to be something which other people aspire to become themselves. For whatever particular reason that might be. When his fans get to spend an hour with their hero Tom Cruise outside his latest film premiere, they're paying homage to his good looks as much as his good works for the Church of Scientology (which, believe me, are manifold).

So despair not those who look on Mr Sutcliffe's bravery and despair. The answer to the question "what is a hero?" is simple and comforting: in our own special ways, we all are.