Role Heroes

HANG IN THERE GUYS, THERE WILL BE

A LOT MORE HERO ESSAYS.

Ever since I have been a part of formal education, there has been an essay prompt more common than the common cold. Either it’s a hot topic among teachers and admissions counselors around the country, or no one is creative enough to think a new prompt, but every seems to want to know who my hero is. This is the slightest bit annoying, considering the fact that I don’t think I have a stereotypical hero. The person I look up to the most never risked his life, ran into flaming buildings, or defeated an evil empire. My grandfather simply was an amazing man, and I have yet to find someone who was surrounded by as much love as he was. He was generous, compassionate, and had a wonderful sense of humor. But does this make him a hero?

APPARENTLY, THIS GUY IS A HERO

Dictionary.com defines a hero as someone who is brave, courageous, or noble, or someone who has committed an act of heroism. I never witnessed my grandfather rescue someone from a robbery, save a dying man, or commit a so-called act of ‘heroism.’ The biggest risk I saw him take was regularly giving to the poor, although he was still able to lead a comfortable life. I guess this makes him ‘noble’, but this can’t be the only criteria for a hero. Otherwise hero and noble would have identical definitions, which just isn’t right. Now you can see the dilemma I face each time the state wanted to test my writing aptitude; is my grandpa a hero?

The writing standards in New Mexico are fairly low (among the lowest in the country), so I wasn’t too worried about my scores as a bs’d my way through the essay. I would simply write about my role model instead of my hero, and would sometimes substitute the words without care. Still, it bothered me that all the children around me seemed to be furiously writing about their heroes. Is a baseball player a hero? Is a draft dodger a hero? Around the fifth time writing the essay, I realized that the problem wasn’t with the prompt, it was with the word.
Hero. Someone who commits heroic acts. That definition would confuse any poor third grader trying to write their hero essay.

'SO A HERO ACTS LIKE A HERO?'

In my opinion, prompt writers have mistakenly switched the definition of a hero with the definition of a role model. That, or I have lead a very unique life. I know very few people that are heroes by the normal definition, unless we count people that have gained national recognition. Louis Pasteur, for example, was a pioneer in the development of vaccines. But if I wrote a college application essay about how proud I am of Louis, admissions counselors would learn very little about my personality. However, if I described the values and qualities of my role model, my grandfather, I feel like they would gain a deeper insight as to ‘who I am.’ So why do they keep asking the same question?

THIS GUY DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO FIGHTING DISEASE.

HE'S ONE OF MY HEROES, BUT REPRESENTS NOTHING ABOUT ME.


Even the heroes described by Margaret Cousins were not necessarily heroes. She seemed to respect them deeply as shown by her detailed descriptions. “Dr. James B. Wharey who taught ‘The English Novel,’…seemed to me [to] know everything.” (X 945). However, to me this does not qualify as a selfless act, bravery, or that nebulous definition of a ‘heroic act.’ Even the heroes at UT, although there are some definite heroes, seem to be mostly composed of people that had to face adversity. Their success was the result of their work, and the driven by a completely selfish view. McCombs became rich as hell then gave money away, Bean flew to the moon, Crier became a journalist. When asked if she keeps up with college friend, Crier’s response was “Sure, they’re scattered all over the country. I think Texas did a pretty good job of preparing us to meet the world” (985). She went from judge to journalist and she keeps up with her friends?!

HOW TO BE AN INSTANT HERO.

Although I am exaggerating the facts, there is a bit of truth behind it all. Hero is a distinction that means (at least to me) someone has made huge personal self sacrifices for others. Prompt writers and students around the nation would do well to separated ‘hero’ and ‘role model’. They are far from being the same thing.