Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

La Plante 1
Josh La Plante
Mrs. Hayes
English 2
20 October 2009
Heroes: Known and Unknown
For each person their hero – or heroes – will be different, as will their opinion on what the qualities of a hero should be. To me, what makes someone a hero is not how well-known of publicized they are, but what they do for the world. What makes a person a hero is how many lives they save and why they do it. Who cares if they’re good looking or well-known; that’s not saving anyone! A person that’s a real hero is someone who lives just their own average life, but still manage to help others and not just themselves. Someone who, under bad conditions can still make the right choice to help someone in need.
Take firefighters as an example. Every single day on the job they know that every decision that they make will affect someone in one way or another. Each time that they put on their suits, they know, there might not be another day for them, they’re willing to put their own lives on the line just to save someone that they don’t even know. Once they reach that fire, there is no turning back for them. The best thing about them is they’re not doing it for the publicity; they’re doing it to save lives.
Even then, heroes aren’t only the people we see on television or in the news. There are heroes in our everyday lives that we don’t even think about. The most important ones often hide
La Plante 2
in the dark to keep out of the flashing lights of fame. They’re the most respectable ones, the ones who save people simply because they want to.
Take, for instance, the story The Man in the Water By: Roger Rosenblatt. The protagonist in this story, the “Man in the Water” risks his life to save the people of a plane crash. Whether he was someone onboard or a helper no one knows, but what we know is that he risked his life –and possibly died- saving five people from the tail of the plane which landed in a freezing river. Although he was not the only person working on saving people from the wreck, he was the only one who did it for nothing. He did it neither for his duty nor for publicity, for no one knows who he was. Dead or alive he was seen as a hero to all.
Of course these aren’t the only heroes, there are also the ones you pass by everyday and don’t think about. Such as a counselor; maybe they don’t jump into freezing rivers to save people, but they go places that kill, the heart and the mind. Parents too can be heroes, although, not all are, parents have much influence over the mind of their children. They may not always use that in a positive way, but they have the ability too.
[Insert A Chip of Glass Ruby Here]
Also along the lines of Parents is The Cinderella Man. Not only a parent, but a lover and a friend to many, James J. Braddock fights for all. He fights not for himself, but for everyone else. After seeing his family hit it’s all time low, James goes and fights for one thing; his family. Everyone sees him as their hero too because he represents the common man. He fights for the thing that everyone fights for, freedom of oppression. While fighting he shows everyone that you can win against it all if you have something you’re fighting for.
Along with all of these are the men and women we here about for a day and then, as if they’re unimportant, are forgotten. They’re not unsung heroes, they’re songs were sung for a short time, but were all soon felt as unimportant. Unlike actors and models who don’t do a thing and yet are always remembered for nothing. Our world is always remembering the things that are unimportant and we forget the things that really matter; family and friends.
On July 19, 2009 two off duty firefighters ran into a burning wreck of a car just to save two children from a toasty death.