What Does It Mean To Be A Hero?
When you think of the word 'hero', what is the first thing that comes to your mind? The phrase is used widely in modern society to describe people that may not necessarily actually be the definition of a hero, but in our perspective they are 'our heroes'. I was guilty of also doing the same thing growing up, my hero was none other than Cristiano Ronaldo and he still is to this day. Is that an insult to those that are the real heroes of this world such as firefighters and soldiers in the military? In fact, what is the criteria for somebody to be a hero in the first place. A quick google search would tell you that the definition of a hero is somebody that is admired for their courage or noble qualities, such as a war hero. If that is the case, then why would I look up to a footballer as my personal hero? Somebody that gets paid ridiculous amounts of money to provide a form of entertainment. Good question.
My own personal reason is seeing the journey of Ronaldo's story from zero to hero, a very skinny child living in Portugal who was branded a 'crybaby' by his fellow friends when he played football for local teams because he had to pass the ball, something which he didn't want to. Fast forward to today and he stands at the pinnacle of the football world amongst the greatest of all time. Listening to interviews of his former team mates and managers, they all say one common thing about him - his desire and hard work was unrivalled. This is the quality that inspired me and is the reason why I chose to look up to him (and his many goals for Manchester United). But is the hard work of an athlete really enough to brand them the image of a hero?
A hero is essentially the spirit of self-sacrifice, somebody that protects others with a smile on their face without giving thought to their own personal wellbeing. That sounds familiar right? No I am not talking about Batman, thats a topic of discussion later on this blog. I am talking about my parents and for anybody reading, if they were fortunate enough to have a parent or guardian, shouldn't they be our heroes? They do fit the definition. Personally I do look up to my dad as somebody that is one of my heroes but I have never really thought about it in that way, despite him working countless hours everyday to provide me with a better life and education, even the laptop I am using right now to type this, all in the spirit of self-sacrifice for my benefit. Does this then make me a bad person for not thinking of my father in such a way? Probably not.
As shallow as it sounds, I believe there are other criteria that we as humans judge to determine whether people are seen as heroes. The closest thing we have to real life heroes are by far those that put themselves in danger to save others, i.e firefighters and soldiers. While we all acknowledge their efforts and respect them for protecting others, why is that many ex-soldiers are homeless and unemployed and why aren't doctors or nurses given the funding which the NHS desperately needs and why are celebrities given so much more spotlight than those that run into burning buildings to save innocent people?
To simply put it, they aren't "cool" or "attractive" enough to gain the recognition they deserve.
To back up my previous statement I think it would be very relevant to look at superheroes, despite being fictional, many of us admire these fictional heroes for very simplistic reasons - they look cool doing it. Nobody would care as much about superheroes if they didn't have flashy costumes or over the top fight scenes in movies. The core essence of heroism is definitely still there, but it is sugarcoated with blockbuster action scenes. This isn't a criticism of anybody, as it is fairly logical. Naturally humans want to be entertained and engulfed in awe when we see acts of heroism, even though its very unrealistic.
It's not that they are cool because they're superheroes; they're superheroes because they are cool.
There are individuals that perform acts of bravery and heroism every day, many of which we don't hear about due to the priorities of mainstream media. But there was one story which caught my eye recently, a 29 year old man called James Shaw Jr wrestled a gun from a shooter in Nashville (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/384449-man-who-wrestled-gun-from-waffle-house-shooter-raises-nearly-30k-for) and saved the lives of many people and also sustained injuries, including a gunshot wound. He then set up a go fund me page for the victims of the shooting after the incident and has raised $235,000. He played down his heroic efforts by stating anybody else would have done the same. This couldn't be further from the truth and only emphasises his character and why he is such a hero. Choosing to save people by risking your own life is something that many would be unable to do, and to go beyond this by raising money and remaining humble in his actions is the surely what it means to be a hero.
Overall, I believe we all have our own perspectives of what it means to be a hero and the reasons we choose may not be entirely justified. But ultimately the heroes we admire are those that inspire us in our everyday lives to do better and we strive emulate the actions of those we look up to. The movie Kick-ass showed us a great example how we see heroes in modern society and that we don't need to dress up in costumes to be heroes.
Anybody can be a hero, it just requires the self-belief that we can all make a difference if we help each other and turning those selfless intentions into a reality - because that is the true essence of a hero.
I chose this topic because I saw a similar blog on Steemit talking about the idea of heroes, I was interested and wanted to share my own view on the matter. I don't claim to be an expert on any of the topics I talk about, they are merely my opinions and I will always back up any bold statements with evidence.
Thanks for reading !
Jaz