A hero by any other name | Teen Ink

A hero by any other name

December 27, 2007
By Anonymous

You are flying, fast as a bird, now faster, to reach your destination. Almost there, you push yourself to the limit and . . . boom! You rescued the city from a terrible tornado. Suddenly, you wake up from your dream and move back into the place called reality. Heroes don’t have superpowers but a hero is someone who is brave as Harriet Tubman, caring as George Washington, and someone who is dependable such as your friends and family.
Bravery is a key element in heroes. When talking about heroes, bravery doesn’t mean defiance or to dare someone to do something but it means to possess courage and to face the challenge without knowing the result. In other words, you’re brave because you want to protect someone you really care about and would do anything do make sure that they don’t get hurt. Harriet Tubman cared a lot for her people and would do anything to bring justice for the poor treatment they were getting. So she escaped to the North and found that she was a stranger in a strange land. Feeling that why should she only get the taste of freedom, she brought back many families and friends through over 13 expeditions to Canada despite the fact that a huge reward had been attached to her name in newspapers for her capture. She was known by “Moses” on the Underground Railroad and “never lost a passenger.” That’s what bravery means. Pursuing this further, she helped other people first even if the task was dangerous. She led people from slavery to freedom.

Next, caring means to protect people you love no matter what the consequence may be. It’s when you put others before yourself in order to make sure they are safe. Consequently, George Washington put his country before himself because as any good American, he loved his country very much. It felt wrong to him that his country was being ruled by another country so he fought for independence for his country with a determined will to do so. Many soldiers in his army quit and joined the Loyalists who were more successful at the beginning. This man full of integrity and determination proved the British wrong. He trained his soldiers fiercely and won. We wouldn’t be here if he had just said, “Oh. The river is freezing. I don’t feel like crossing the Delaware today but maybe tomorrow when the weather is not so chilly.” He was caring for his country and would do anything to protect it.

Finally, dependence means you can rely on others. They are good role models for you to follow. You can depend on them for about anything. Your friends and family are very dependable because you can go to them for almost anything. You can go to your friends and tell them anything that you might be having trouble about at school. Furthermore, you can trust family members for stuff that might be confidential but you have to be confident enough to trust them first. Your friends and family are there to help you. You can rely on them for a lot of things. They will come to your aid whenever necessary.

In conclusion, three characteristics that are embedded in a hero are bravery, caring, and dependence. Why is this important, you may ask? It’s important because not anyone can be a hero. Nevertheless, just because you’re a famous baseball star doesn’t make you a hero if you use your fame for useless things. You have to be a good person and have a good heart in order to do good things. Good person . . . blah, blah, blah. You’re probably heard this a million times before but you can’t be a good person just by being nice. You’ve got to take action! You have to do things as if you really mean it! On the other hand, if your brother is having problems in school and he wants to talk to you about it, don’t just ignore him! Listen to him and tell him what you would have done. Give him suggestions. Don’t just be like, “Yeah, whatever. Leave me alone. I’m on the phone!” Wow. You must be really caring then. At least he had the nerve and confidence to ask you in the first place and turning him down would really hit him hard. Bravery doesn’t mean that you aren’t afraid of anything. It just means that you’d risk your life for others and think about them first disregarding the obstacles. You have to be dependable when someone really needs you. Therefore, a hero doesn’t need all of these qualities to be perfect; even one good one would make them a good hero.


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