Valiance In The 21St Century Essay, Research Paper

Valiance in the 21st Century

And suddenly earth and sky were dazed by a pounding roar! And suddenly through the dawn an army began to pour! And lo! Ahead the army, holding aloft his spear came Lancelot to save his dear Guenevere! Camelot, Guenevere

Heroism as is defined in the dictionary is the condition or quality of being a hero; heroic characteristics or conduct; courage; gallantry. In the bold days of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round, men traveled on brave quests, searching for adventure and chivalrous tasks of which to prove themselves heroic. But that was then. What about now? What heroics can exist today, in a time where men are lazy and damsels in distress fend for themselves? In the time of King Arthur, a man would be bound by his code of chivalry to help any girl. Now a woman can barely depend on a man to remember to pick up the laundry. A man in the 21st century no longer has dragons to slay or black knights to defeat. So what is a hero of today? Today s heroes are everywhere, though they may be hard to find in our bustling society. Or maybe they don t exist?

Many of today s heroics are considered by some to be ordinary or somewhat mandatory. The main hero most see are firefighters and policemen. A firefighter risks their life to put out a blaze, save people from fires, and must be strong, brave, occasionally quite sexy, and loyal. These are all qualities found in a hero. A policeman (or woman) has many of those same characteristics. To many they are considered heroes, but to a few they are considered just doing their job. If they are only doing their job, where are we to find our 21st century heroes?

Some may consider their parents their heroes, or an athlete, actor, musician, teacher, etc. These types of people are all considered heroes, but the term is beginning to be used too loosely. Those people are more like idols, not heroes. Some wild teenager may consider a member a punk rock band to be their hero, but it is highly doubtful that that certain drummer or singer has done anything heroic. Once again we discover a rut in our search for a true hero.

What about the fantasy world? There is where we find our true heroes. Though they may not exist in reality, our now day superhero is the closest we get to the heroes of old. If we truly think about it, the real heroes of old were all folklore, and not real. King Arthur was a fictional character, admired by all. No one was sure if Robin Hood existed or not, but he too was somewhat worshiped. Even farther back, scribes wrote of Egyptian gods, Zeus reigned supreme, and Venus seduced the Romans. And still, none were real people.

Our comic book men still slay their dragons. Though they may be in the form of Lex Luthor or the Joker, those fictional characters are our heroes. Many girls dream of their Superman to fly in and rescue them, and many boys wish they could be Spiderman. So yes, in a way heroism does exist today. It exists exactly as it did in the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round: in the world of fantasy and magic, the human imagination.