Friday, January 3, 2014
Anonymous Heroism
The definition of a hero is someone admired for their achievements or favorable qualities. A hero is a public figure. The heroes we praise in our society are people that have done something good and upon further examination, they have favorable qualities. Then this person becomes a hero. What people don't understand is that heroes live for that major achievement in their lives, such as rescuing the princess or saving someone from a burning house. These major achievements bring them fame and as a result, they become heroes. Once this achievements is accomplished, the hero does not need to do anymore. They have finished. People always say they want to become heroes but is that really what they want? Being a hero is not the only way to do good. There are those who strive for the benefit of others but never request anything back. These people do good but are anonymous. They do small things to help others and they live their lives satisfied. Not being noticed doesn't mean an unsuccessful life. As long as you are pleased with yourself, you can live a successful life.
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Probably the best historical example of this is the Second Greco-Persian War. Everybody knows about the Battle of Thermopylae, where the heroic 300 Spartans faced hundreds of thousands of Persians and sacrificed themselves for the good of Greece, allowing the rest of the Greeks to prepare for the Persian invasion and fight their enemies off. Except that's not at all what happened. In actuality, the Greek force at Thermopylae was a coalition of 7,000 Greek warriors, led by 300 Spartans. The men there weren't fighting for freedom - they were fighting for personal glory. It didn't matter that the force of a hundred thousand Persian warriors (there were fewer than fifteen Persians for every Greek) wiped them all out - they'd fulfilled their purposes, like you said. But at least the rest of Greece turned back the tide and escaped destruction, right? WRONG! The Persians invaded, and the Greeks fled before them. Athens was abandoned to the Persians, and a great deal of the city was destroyed. Years later, at the naval battle of Salamis, the Athenians used their navy to take back their city. So, in all honesty, the Battle of Thermopylae did nothing more in the long term than give the Greeks a rallying cry, whereas the Athenian mariners who have been all but forgotten saved their home, their country, and western society as we know it. They weren't in it for glory or pride, and somehow that makes them all the more heroic, at least to me.
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