Saturday, August 30, 2008

"Your hero, not mine"


Before I start with this post, I'm going to lecture you for a bit. Boohoo, skip down a few paragraphs if you don't want to read it and get to the main post.

I'll start off with my title, "your hero, not mine". If you know what that means, skip down a paragraph. Yes, for some reason I keep telling you to skip paragraphs. Anyways, "Your hero", what you view as good. "Mine", what I view as good. A hero is what one views what a hero is, for example... our soldiers going to Iraq to liberate them from their Weapons of Mass Destruction. We American's see that as good, as if heroes are going to save the world (technically they are). On the other hand, Iraqis considers us as invaders (villains).

So this brings me to my point, what you think your hero is, is what you think what good is, and vice versa. I'm getting a bit tired, plus I wrote this when I'm a bit hungry and sleepy, so I'll finish this homework assignment fast and go to bed.

My hero... no, let me rephrase that. I appreciate this person because I believe he is good. I'll explain later, but here is why I just said "person". You can somewhat tell, because I said I believe he is good. I can't say he is my "hero", because if I did, I'd be going back on all my morals. Frederick Douglass is just a person, like you and me, like John McCain and Barrack Obama. I respect him because he made his name known, to do things that I cannot do. That is why I respect him.

Now, I'll say this... heroes change with the times. The people, the thoughts, the answers... they all change with the times. In the past, Frederick Douglass changed most people by telling them about what it is like to be free, to say what it is to be stripped from "liberty and justice for all". In the times, slaves were mistreated and disrespected. Because of him, because he used his words to fight, he changed the times to be kinder to all. When he did, he was still hated, he was still evil in some eyes. For others, he was justice, he was light, he was a "hero".

And with that, the times changed. The flow of the sands shifted to favor those who needed it most. For Martin Luther King Jr., for Gandhi, for those who needed it, they became loved in some eyes. They became hated in others, that is what it means to a "hero".

Man, I'm exhausted. I'm just going to wrap this up with some quote or something.

"He who became a hero, became hated because he saved the world. He who became loved, is because he was the one who tried to destroy it. There is no good nor bad in the world, it is only a concept that you perceive everything as..." - Anonymous

2 comments:

Andy Le said...

By the way, I am still extremely sleepy, but I'll clarify some stuff real fast...

I read the quote from a book once, I forgot which. Its a bit confusing, but it just means something like "War brought freedom to our people, death to yours".

I dont know what else to clarify right now, so send me a email or two asking what it means.

Ms. Charlotte said...

I think your follow up quote is quite on point. I love your description of the "flow" from hero to villian as times change.