This blog is for my Hero's Journey English class. The hero's journey is a generic path that heroes generally travel on when becoming a hero. I'm not totally sure what it entails, but there is a lot of change involved I'm pretty sure. There can be both mental and physical change. I think the more important is mental. You can have all the strength in the world, but if you don't have the right mentality or know-how to use it, you are just stuck with a really heavy albeit muscular body. Its the mental aspects that truly make someone a hero. The courage to overcome a fear. The perseverance to keep going at something even when all seems hopeless. The ability to take that one in a million chance and run with it, making the odds greater and greater as you go. It takes balls to be a hero. Balls or total lunacy - I'm sure both work.
Generally we think of heroes as being big and strong and attractive and impossible. These are the types of heroes we find in media. Books, movies, commercials... These are the heroes that appeal to us. We cherish the idea of a superhero, I think, because we like the idea of potentially being that hero ourselves. And if we are that hero, that strong, attractive, and powerful hero, than it is not hard to see ourselves as better than everyone else. That right there is what we really want. Humans are selfish beings, becoming better than everyone else is one of the main unconscious goals of almost everyone. This has been true for millennia. In the dark ages, people sought individual glory through battle. The person who killed the most or defeated the strongest enemy became a hero. In modern times the media gives superhero status to the fictional characters who are given incredible abilities and powers that no one else has. But that's what really makes a hero, isn't it....
That's an interesting spin on it. I sort of feel like the desire for a clear conscience motivates heroic action, but I've never thought about the desire to feel better than others. That's another selfish motive for heroic action.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we have been mentioning how humility is an important part of heroism. In the Odyssey, one isn't supposed to compare themselves to the gods or brag about their achievements. In popular culture, sports stars are disliked if they are too cocky on the field or court. Perhaps the difference between a hero and somebody who is just good at something is that the hero would feel ashamed to point out their own heroism. Or maybe part of what a "hero" is is somebody who is perceptive and self-serving enough not to be cavalier about their abilities.
Interesting post, Luie. I think you have a very strong point in that a hero today is someone who wants to be better than their peers. Competition is how people become heroes. However with athletes (when talking to media), they always direct the attention not to the themselves, but the team, regarding a game as a total team effort. There are also heroes that don't strive from competition, but are just doing their job whether they are firemen, officers, or soldiers.
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