In a country desperately in need of a hero, Sayyid Abdullah Hashemi would like to apply for the job.

This New York Times piece nicely demonstrates that heroic motivation isn’t always a clear-cut thing and that it’s seldom easy to act heroically:

Whether he was motivated by altruism, ambition or some mix of the two may matter little given the importance of his work. But how Mr. Hashemi fares over the long term may be an important sign of whether a reform ethic stands any chance against the corruption so deeply embedded here.

HT: Matt Langdon.