Heroes

What ho everyone! Here is my hero thingy.

First, apologies to Miss Pickwickian for not being as active on the blog as I could have been.
Second, the slide shows are totally awesome!

Now to business.
I have a ton of heroes. Every time I meet a new one, I add them to my Hero List, which is quite large and ever-growing. What does it take for someone to qualify as a hero for me? I think a hero is firstly, someone who does something either brave or self sacrificing (or both!) to benefit or save others. Bravery is essential - who ever heard of a cowardly hero? But a hero is not someone who simply does brave things for no reason. A hero must do brave things to save and help people. People who do dangerous things are either brave or foolish. I think that if someone does a dangerous thing for no reason, he qualifies as a fool. If a person does dangerous things in order to help others, the he qualifies as a hero. But a hero is not just someone who does scary dangerous things all the time; there must be the element of self-sacrifice (which is connected to being brave for others). I believe all heroes are types of the Ultimate Hero, the Lord Christ Jesus. Christ’s heroic act (the death on the cross) was the Supreme Act of Self Sacrifice. If the people we call heroes are not putting others before themselves, are not risking themselves for others or giving something up, I think they miss the point of being a hero.
Second, a hero must be someone that we can look up to, or strive to be more like. A hero doesn’t have to be perfect; in fact, usually a hero with some conflict in his personal life makes a more interesting story; but if a person does brave things, yet is totally corrupt in every other aspect of his life, then he does not qualify as a hero. Heroes are not ONLY people who do brave things for others; they are people we can look up to and respect.

Now that you have my definition of a hero, I will run through some of my favorites, and explain why I think they qualify as heroes.

My favorite knight form the story of King Arthur is Sir Gawain. Gawain, like most of the prominent knights, is skilled in battle and is of course a very valient warrior. But what maks him a hero for me is his amazing courage in areas other than fighting and his selflessness. In the adventure of the Green knight, one of the knights must travel to the Green knight’s house and get his head cut off. Gawain immediately promises the Green knight he will come. He did this not out of a desire for glory- after all, onc ehe gets to the Green knight's house, he'll be dead! He did it because he was brave and selfless, unwilling to let other knights risk their lives. Again, in another adventure, the King must answer a riddle or else be killed by an enemy knight. They find an ugly old woman who can tell them the answer-but her price is that Gawain must marry her! Gawain does not hesitate to marry her and saves King Arthur’s life. In every adventure, Gawain is always ready to sacrifice himself for others. Gawain is also staunchly loyal to King Arthur and is with him to the end. In the words of Lady Ragnel (Gawain’s wife): “There was never a knight as noble and unselfish as you!”

One of my all time favorites is Luke Skywalker. I am a huge Star wars fan, and he is my mostest favroitist hero of all Star wars. That’s saying a lot, because there are hundreds of heroes in those movies. Why is he my favorite? He’s a very typical human being. He struggles with his shortcomings, with his desire to be a Jedi, with the people in his life. He’s not perfect. He’s someone I can relate to more than I can to, say, Gawain. And yet, Luke not only overcomes his mistakes and short comings, but he perseveres to become the greatest Jedi there ever was, to save the Galaxy from evil, and even save Darth Vader. He transorms from the impatient, irritable kid who only wants adventure, to the skilled Jedi who saves the world; the very picture of bravery and selflessness.

Okay, one more. My favorite super hero is Spiderman. It’s not just because his ability to spin webs is cool (it is cool, though). What I appreciate about Peter Parker is his humility. He always has a humble attitude about his abilities and is never in it for his own glory. I also think it is incredibly selfless of him to forgo the normal life he could have had in order to save people. Peter has his struggles and temptations, but he always does what’s right in the end. I know that sounds so cliché, but it’s true. Out of all the super heroes I’ve seen, Spiderman seems to me to be the bravest and noblest of the all. (Note: I am going by what I saw in the movies. I've never read the comics, hypocrite that I am.)

I could go on and on about my other favorite heroes. Maybe some other time. Tinkerty Tonk for now!