It is possible to reawaken these bourdon souls. However, we must first re-emphasize that what we desire is these figures in the context of the “feudal bond” discussed earlier—those reciprocal social relationships that generate stability and leadership. We do not seek to impose the feudal structures or hierarchies of the past. By their nature, feudal bonds generate their own structures, protocols, and hierarchies suited to the times. We must also discover our own.
Photo of Todd Beamer by Nyttend. Todd Morgan Beamer was a passenger aboard the September 11 hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania in 2001.
Beamer formed a plan to take the plane back from the hijackers, and led other passengers in this effort with his famous, “Let’s roll!”
Secondly, let us recall that, historically, representative characters have always existed and played their essential role, especially in troubled times like ours. Such characters do exist today, but a hostile culture prevents them from taking center stage. It is not for us to create them but to recognize and support them. It is not for these figures to deny their role but to embrace it by making sacrifices for the common good. For when this is not done, counterfeits and opportunists take their place. Part of our problem is that we have embraced those unrepresentative characters that so dominate our mass culture: media stars, celebrities, and unprincipled politicians. 
We should connect instead with the heroes that are among us. We need to break out of the individualist model that so isolates us in our own little self-absorbing worlds. We must be open to the re-emergence of reciprocal social relationships (that need not be contractual or commercial) whereby we might have recourse to the influence of those truly representative figures, be they statesmen, employers, teachers, or religious leaders, who, on their part, must have the courage to rise to the occasion. We must be attentive to the sound of the bourdon bell to set the tone. Let us once again dare to desire a society with cohorts of legendary figures that come from all ranks to create a nation of heroes.
Cpl Patrick Tillman, who gave up a promising career as an Arizona Cardinals linebacker, to join the Army Rangers, serving several tours in combat before he died in the mountains of Afghanistan in 2004.
John Horvat II, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go (York, Penn.: York Press, 2013), 204-5.
