An essay on standards of a hero and why no one in my life fits them American LiteratureWhat is a hero? Does one have to have superpowers, special abilities or incredibletalent to be considered one? Well, some of us seem to think so. Then there is theeveryday teacher or local figure that is considered a hero to selected individuals in theircommunity. To me a hero has to have a few selected qualities, and I haven't met anyonewho can fulfill all three.First, a hero must be good at heart. A hero has to know how to give and takeaccordingly. When he/she is needed to make a great sacrifice to help the community,their closest friends, or even their greatest enemies, they need to know that it is okay tomake that sacrifice and know they did the right thing. That person also needs to go outand make a difference in their community and not need any more motivation than the goodfeeling they ...view middle of the document...
Being honest is a qualitythat is never usually overlooked in naming someone a hero. This includes being honestwith one's self. Honesty with yourself is a very important virtue. It is hard to get throughlife, especially as a hero, lying or fooling yourself into believing something about yourselfor others that you really know is not true. For example; you are seen as a hero to manypeople, but you know that you did something to wrong many of your followers to betteryourself. Even though you knew it was wrong, you did it and you are constantlyreminding yourself that it will turn out good and then no one will ever find out. You weretrying to fool yourself into believing that you did nothing wrong, but in reality youbetrayed 'your public.'Trustworthiness is possibly the best and most valuable virtue of a hero in my eyes.In order to retain the hero image you have to be able to be trusted and relied on to bethere when you said you would. Also, it is necessary for people to trust you and what yousay to them, and for them to know that you will stick to your word and not let them down.To be trustworthy you have to value what you say and say what you mean. If you wouldhappen to give a false promise, you will most likely be caught in that lie and lose the statusyou deserve or think you still deserve. You would also be hard pressed to find someonethat would still believe anything you say after one fairly sizable mistake. That would reallyhurt your image to the people that once loved and admired you so much.A hero must meet these three standards, and as of yet I know of no one who canpresently do this. There are hundreds of people who can meet any one of thesecharacteristics; of these there are probably a few dozen who can fulfill two of them. Butof all the people I have known and met, is there a person who I look up to, and can meetall three of these traits I ask of a hero? No, but maybe somewhere down the road I'll meetsomeone who I will consider a hero, as I have several people in the past. I'm sure there issomeone out there who strives to meet these and I hope there is.
