Stephanie M Armstrong
Columbia Southern University
For a child, his/her father is a hero; for a young girl, the man who saved her when she is in jeopardy is a hero; for public, one who is raising voice against social injustice is a hero; and for a nation, the soldier who sacrificed his life for the sake of his country is a hero. Overall, who is a hero or what is a hero? A hero is a hero, who should possess all the qualities of a hero, but the qualities can be defined only by the person who is in need of a hero and it may vary depending upon the situation.
People who are in vain are still waiting for a hero to be born to save them, as they do not know they themselves have a hero within everyone of them. The hero in every person arouses when there is a need for hero. Everyone has a hero inside, but the difference is, a few have it in the subconscious level instead the so-called heroes have it in conscious level. Mary McCarthy rightly says, “We are the heroes of our own story” .
Many of us have a very simple question whether heroes are born or they are made. They are neither born nor made. Heroic qualities lies within us, but what we all need is an inducing agent or a critical situation that pushes ourselves to become a hero. Let us take this as an example: If we find a thief at our home, we have to take the action of a hero to save our life and belongings. “We all have a inner hero,” argues Philip Zimbardo, “we are all born with this tremendous capacity to be anything, and we get shaped by our circumstances whether we grow up in a war zone versus peace” .
We can never find answer to this question “what is a hero?” until we search the hero within us. I take it to mean that we should never put ourselves down. We are all heroes to ourselves. For example, big banyan lies within the small seed. All it needs to grow bigger and stronger is a raindrop. Likewise physically and mentally stronger hero lying inside us and it takes time to grow bigger and stronger.
At one time or other, we all want to be heroes at least while watching Spider Man or any hero-based movies. That makes us to put ourselves in the place of the hero to act dramatically impact the critical situation and even foster change. Arthur Ashe rightly says, “True heroism is remarkable sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, nut the urge to serve others at whatever cost” .
First, we have to think what is involved in being a hero. We no need to do the stunts like the super heroes in movies. What we all need to do is stand up for what is right and just. The desire to act freely and think widely makes the difference and it will automatically lead us to the hero status.
References
Arthur Ashe. The official Website of Arthur Ashe. In Quotes by Arthur Ashe. Retrieved December 24, 2013, from www.cmgww.com/sports/quotes.htm.
Carthy, M. M. (1961, March/April). Characters in Fiction. Partisan Review .
Philip Zimbardo. (January 18, 2011). What Makes a Hero. In Greater Good, The Science of a Meaningful Life. Retrieved, December 24, 2013, from greatergood.barkeley.edu/article/item/what_makes_a_hero.
