Why I Have No Hero Essay, Research Paper

Why I Have No Hero

American Literature

Matt Robbins

October 7, 1996

What is a hero? Does one have to have superpowers, special abilities or

incredible talent to be considered one? Well, some of us seem to think so.

Then there is the everyday teacher or local figure that is considered a hero to

selected individuals in their community. To me a hero has to have a few

selected qualities, and I haven’t met anyone who can fulfill all three.

First, a hero must be good at heart. A hero has to know how to give and

take accordingly. 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 to make that sacrifice and know they did the right thing.

That person also needs to go out and make a difference in their community and

not need any more motivation than the good feeling they feel when they’ve made a

positive impact on the few people they met with and helped. A person that is to

be considered a hero must be naturally good and work for good and be there when

they are needed most. They should not have to feel guilty about the negative

effects of something they have done if the good it causes out weighs the bad.

Honesty is a good trait to have if you want to be a hero. A hero needs

to be honest with the public so that he/she will get the public’s support to

retain that hero status among them, and possibly gain that status with more

individuals. Being honest is a quality that is never usually overlooked in

naming someone a hero. This includes being honest with one’s self. Honesty

with yourself is a very important virtue. It is hard to get through life,

especially as a hero, lying or fooling yourself into believing something about

yourself or others that you really know is not true. For example; you are seen

as a hero to many people, but you know that you did something to wrong many of

your followers to better yourself. Even though you knew it was wrong, you did

it and you are constantly reminding yourself that it will turn out good and then

no one will ever find out. You were trying to fool yourself into believing that

you did nothing wrong, but in reality you betrayed “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 be there when you said you would. Also, it is necessary for

people to trust you and what you say 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 would happen to give a false promise,

you will most likely be caught in that lie and lose the status you deserve or

think you still deserve. You would also be hard pressed to find someone that

would still believe anything you say after one fairly sizable mistake. That

would really hurt 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 can presently do this. There are hundreds of people who can meet any one of

these characteristics; of these there are probably a few dozen who can fulfill

two of them. But of all the people I have known and met, is there a person who

I look up to, and can meet all three of these traits I ask of a hero? No, but

maybe somewhere down the road I’ll meet someone who I will consider a hero, as I

have several people in the past. I’m sure there is someone out there who

strives to meet these and I hope there is.