GROWING up, there was no dearth of heroes. My father was certainly one. Even now, 11 years after his death, I still marvel at his intellect, admire his vision and chuckle at his jokes. My quest for other heroes — and heroines — has been less successful, however.

It seems I’m not alone: The whole world appears to be on the lookout for a person who — according to my dictionary’s description of a hero — should be of “distinguished courage and ability, admired for his/her brave deeds and noble qualities”.

Here in Europe, the prevailing moan is about the lack of strong political leaders to help us climb out of the eurozone catastrophe and other assorted crises. In the US, as mourning continues over the death of Apple whiz-kid Steve Jobs, most heroes either inhabit Silicon Valley or the TV and cinema screens. Certainly do not try and look for them in the Republican Party.

The Middle East has recently produced an extraordinary number of nasty villains. Latin America has Brazil’s Lula da Silva as a pan-continental hero and Africa is lucky enough to call Nelson Mandela a son of the soil.

But apart from Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Asia has been quite unsuccessful in producing modern-day heroes. And as for Pakistan, the less said about the lack of contemporary heroes, the better. So where are the men or women who can stir our imagination, capture our hopes and embody our dreams? Where are the people who can inspire and amuse, enrage and inflame — and make us want to be better versions of ourselves?

Everybody has their list of people they admire. My favourite teacher in school insisted that we should all have ‘scrapbooks’ containing pictures of the men and women we thought were special. They had to be living heroes, she said, not people from history books.

I spent many wonderful afternoons filling the books with pictures of the (mostly) men who dominated the global landscape as I was growing up. Looking at one of the albums recently, I saw faded newspaper pictures of an eclectic collection of presidents and prime ministers, astronauts, scientists and writers.

President Nasser of Egypt, Indonesia’s Sukarno, Algeria’s Boumedienne show up on several pages, undoubtedly indicating my interest in the Non-Aligned Movement. But there are also pictures of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, the Soviet Union’s Khrushchev, and once in a while, of Gen Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

There were two women who stood out: Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir — and yes, Jackie Kennedy but for completely different reasons.

I agree: I was confused. My list of icons certainly does not resonate with my son and daughter or any of their friends. Born after the end of the Cold War, into a globalised and interconnected world, both are able to travel and cross cultures without blinking an eyelid. And their standards when it comes to international and local heroes are much higher than their mother’s.

But my point is that there were many people in the 20th century who towered above the rest, inspiring interest in an impressionable girl sitting in faraway Karachi. It definitely does not appear to be the case today. As Europeans ponder over their future, it’s clear that one key problem is a lack of heroes — and heroines — to chart a new course for the continent.

Nostalgic EU-watchers get tears in their eyes when they talk of Jacques Delors, the much-respected former European Commission president, who ushered in the single market and the single European currency. The general consensus is that Delors, working alongside German chancellor Helmut Kohl and French president Francois Mitterrand, helped create an unparalleled golden ‘European Age’.

Contemporary European heroes are few and far between. Chancellor Angela Merkel has lost her gloss in recent months as she struggles to come up with a plan to salvage the euro.

For all their determination to liberate Libya from Qadhafi’s clutches, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron do not qualify as heroes. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi is a global laughing stock and Spain’s José Luis Zapatero is on his way out.

Vladimir Putin? Hardly. As he reinforces his grip over Russia, Putin — president or prime minister — is certainly making a place for himself in the history books but he is not winning many hearts and minds.

So what are we left with? I respect and admire both Recip Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia for turning around their countries’ destinies. But both men have significant flaws. Erdogan is suspected of having an autocratic streak and Yudhoyono for being too ready to compromise. I like Manmohan Singh’s cool and quiet style and his success in transforming his country’s economic landscape. But his Indian critics appear determined to see the back of him.

No, I have not forgotten Barack Obama. America’s first black president is clearly not popular in Pakistan and has been unable to live up to his promises as regards the future of the Middle East. His numerous critics accuse him of being a cold, ‘egghead’ intellectual, unable to stand up to Israel and confused about Afghanistan.

I confess, however, that Obama remains high up on my list of ‘people to admire’. I still find it impressive that an African-American, whose middle name is Hussein, who thinks before he acts and knows the capitals of most nations, big and small, can be elected as US president. I am urging my American friends to vote for him. And trying to convince my sceptical son and daughter that they should include Obama on whatever digital scrapbook they currently cut and paste their heroes into.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.