Other Things Worthy of Your Time
What is a Hero?
11/15/02
“Is heroism a matter of thought, of action, or of both? Do heroes plan out their actions or act spontaneously? Are they realistic or superhuman?” (The United States in Literature 195).
Is heroism a matter of thought, action, or both? Some people plan, others act. To each their own job is important. If not for one, the other would ultimately fail. An action that appears spontaneous required, at one time, a plan, even if only for a moment. Few men or women place themselves in a position of danger or a dilemma in which the solution would change the way others look at them. Much of the time there is a hero in the background and if not for their plea, or call, or order to act, no people would have been inspired, no lives saved, no heroes born. The day may have been shaped a different way. Heroism is not only an action but a plan of action, by however many people it takes.
“I believe it is the nature of people to be heroes, given the chance” (James A. Autrey). How many of us would choose to enter a battle we know we would not survive? How many of us, then, would enter knowing we would not survive, but believing we could win. What about the natural heroes that would give everything they know for a chance to make a difference, but never get the opportunity?
Everyone wants to be famous, but not everyone wants to be a hero. There are so many people today, period. Sadly, heroic potential gets the spotlight more times than actual heroism. Many get the chance to do something special, like it or not, but more that could, never do. The ’super’ heroes may not be those that go above and beyond the call of duty, but those that would do it first. It’s too bad so many ‘Supermen’ never become celebrities when that’s not what they really wanted anyway.
The idea of a hero is the same, no matter what era it came from, because it all came from the same place to begin with. The first hero had no one to call him that. He, or maybe she, was the first, true hero. Maybe the only one.
Every soldier wants to win the perfect war, every fighter the perfect fight. Every winner wants to be remembered for victory, every loser for what they tried and could have done. Every person that has ever spoken or ever written has wanted to say the most important and appropriate thing, if not to bring a heroic title onto their own legacy, but to inspire others to try, fight, and win themselves. Everyone has the motivation, but it is those who succeed who are marked heroic.
Works Cited
Miller Jr., James E., Kerry M. Wood, and Carlota Cárdenas de Dwyer. The United States in Literature. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1991.
“Heroes and Heroism.” Quote Lady’s Quotes. 9 Sep. 2002. <http://www.quotelady.com/subjects/heroes.html>
NOTES
This was a paper under Dr. Bridger in Junior English, who always had us write a purpose letter. Here's what I wrote:
What is a Hero? Why Does it Matter?
-A purpose essay with a completely different purpose.
The purpose of this paper is to answer a question put in front of me by a teacher and a book, and to accomplish a task set before me.
“Every person that has ever spoken or ever written has wanted to say the most important and appropriate thing.” Everything has already been done. Everything has already been said. The only thing I can do now is try to scavenge something and take a piece of these things to call them my own. Because even if it is my own it’s taken from centuries of knowledge repeated and milked until, even if it’s different, it’s nothing new. There isn’t anything more that can be said about a hero. Everyone already knows, and I’m not honorable enough to be willing to teach it to people who don’t know because a lot of them could really care less as it is. It’s depressing that I can only reword and only reinvent something that, when first done was amazing, but when done again right wasn’t so amazing, and now doing it again feels like it should be forbidden. These minds that came up with our belief of heroism were wonders in their own time and wonders still today, because they did it first.
Plagiarism is stealing someone else’s words and ideas and making them your own. Isn’t that what the questions in this book are asking me to do? Even if we reword and interpret these things, explaining our own understanding, isn’t that still stealing the ideas that have been reiterated over and over for the past thousand years?
It is only a book to teach us anyway. The point of a paper like this is to simply answer a question for our own good; to burn these ideas into our brains. I tried to feel compelled to write something worthwhile but after reading the quotes I researched, what more is there to say? Every idea has been taken and, as far as this subject, there is nothing left.
I’ve come to the revelation that to be important and be this heroic figure, you need to do something big, something that really stands out. To do this though, you have to have a place of integrity and some respect already handed to you. Where I am now, at my age, and in this place, I can only ask for respect, and really, I don’t need it. At my age, in this place, why would I need it? Some day, to get to a place where I can be given the chance to speak, I’m going to have to demand it.
I may seem arrogant and unsatisfied, but I am not fully directing it against any person, or idea, or culture, I am challenging myself, as much as that‘s been said before. By questioning everyone and everything, I may someday find an answer that is important enough to begin something anew that it makes me important, or at least feel that way.
I may have to question everything about our ideas, culture, language, and ultimately, world, but I hope I can finally find that question--and answer--that sets me apart and at least settles my mind to rest. I’m not asking what’s the meaning of life? That’s whatever you make of it. I don’t care to ask, ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ cause we already know. The chicken. It’s explained in the oldest history book we have. Some people, one day, like me, though, were just questioning everything and came across this riddle and decided to take the easy way and stop there, by contradicting ideas that had been solid since before anyone remembers anyone remembering. They thought that by confusing some people, these people might actually follow them. And it worked.
I’m not ready to stop and say, ‘hey, maybe the earth isn’t round’. I want to find something totally new and totally incredible. That’s what everyone that wants to be someone should strive for.