Contemporary Heroes and Heroines
The concept of heroism has, changed over the years. From being predictable – portrayed as someone who has fought and died for the achievement of common cause of his people, it has transformed into something that unpredictable – which is quite diverse. Campbell thinks that nowadays, heroes are considered to have many faces. They are no longer the typical type like what was portrayed in the past. There are many modern day heroes that dwell anywhere in our societies, in our communities, or in a national sense. Their roles are now becoming more influential in our modern world for their own heroic deeds by responding to the society’s call into an exciting world of adventure and challenges. Every hero has his own journey and that is what Campbell is trying to tell us.
The most intriguing part of the essay is the portrayal of the modern day heroes. It is what must be taught to people especially at younger ages. At my young age the only heroes I know were those who were mostly presented in many mythology and historical books as. In many books they are subjects of many stories of effective leadership, courage, bravery, and sacrifices characterized as brave, wise, strong and always ready to fight for their cause. In stories where the hero’s perception depended on my own imagination, I used to visualize them as someone who stood tall, with bulky muscles holding a sword, a rifle, or a flag that signified their cause. Let us not include mythological figure as they are unreal and most of their super strength characteristics doesn’t even exist. I often end up thinking that most of them look very frightening and very strict. When you read through their biographies and writings portraying their heroic deeds you can find the real essence of their heroism. Most definitions of a heroic figure boil down to this one – “Anybody admired for his achievements and desirable qualities”.
From the definition written above, anybody can be a hero. There is however, a distinctive feature of how we recognize heroes. There are modern day heroes that we easily bypass and fail to recognize. Anybody in the community that is showing desirable qualities is a hero. A friend, our family, a community leader, law enforcers, teachers, preachers, and anybody who has consistently showed remarkable effort towards the welfare of his fellow people, they are all heroes. Our level of recognizing a hero has been blinded by the characteristics that we have seen from heroes in the past. They are very different compared to us today. Heroes in the past were talk of the town for their successful conquers against foreign people, for their successful crusade against those who took away their rights. But none of us have seen the negative effects of their deeds. Many lives were lost and blood was shed before they were able to achieve what they wanted. We seldom see that type of heroism these days. We no longer need to fight and kill because we are now protected with systems of laws that are already established and accepted. And imposing these laws is always based on other laws that protect the rights of any individual in the community.
We just have to change our perspective about heroism for us to be able to consider anybody around us a hero. For example, I consider my family as my heroes. I have been through difficult situations and they have never parted from me. My parents showed so much care since the first day I was born. On my first day to school they went inside the classroom with me to make me feel safe. They have provided me with everything and more than I ever wanted. Outside my family I also consider bus drivers, pilots, and other transportation vehicle operators as my heroes. They drive me safely back and forth to our home. Law enforcers are also my heroes as they risk their lives for the sake of keeping me and many like me safe from bad elements in the society at all times. All my teachers and professors at school are also my heroes as they taught me basic, specialized, and advance knowledge that I use to tackle day to day challenges and plan for a stable life in the future. Preachers at church constantly develop my faith through their teachings and encouragements so that I’m spiritually safe as well thus I consider them my heroes too. My friends and colleges have always been there for me in the most torrid times and in the most fun times thus I regard them as my heroes too. My pet dog, Leo, is my hero too. He has loyally served me till now, wakes me in the morning, fetches my shoes, walks me to the bus stop and listens to all my fuss whenever I feel low. This list continues on and on since there are so many people what we interact with or are indirectly related too because they touch our lives without us getting to know; thus I consider all of these people as my heroes as they have made my live easier, more entertaining, safe and fulfilling due to their sincere efforts to help anybody around them. May god bless my heroes!