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Heroes are thought to be perfect when in reality they are human beings with faults and flaws just like the rest of society. When asked to define a hero, a persons own definition might include perfection and flawless. However, heroes are less than perfect, and as people are finding out every day from the media, they are mortals. Because heroes are viewed as immaculate, Americans look down on them when they make mistakes.
This is especially noticed in the lives of athletes and celebrities. In the magazine Christianity Today, Eugene H. Peterson writes, we project our fantasies onto them [heroes] and soon they loom larger than life. Princess Diana, Michael Jordan, Marilyn Monroe, and the Kennedys are all examples of larger than life heroes. Rumors of these elite would probably not be taken seriously because they are regarded so highly. In the essay Heroes on Our Doorstep, Mike Barnicle states they [heroes] are mythic figures incapable of disappointing us with any of the evils committed by ordinary human beings (128).
Why do people build in their imagination a perfect hero when they know no such thing exists? Whatever the reason, it must be realized most heroes will not live up to society's expectations. Viewing heroes as perfect presents underlying pressures fabricating a hero into someone they are not. Many Americans choose not to acknowledge past and present Presidents and their inappropriate relationships with women. Peterson gives this reason, putting people on pedestals is a way of not having to deal with who they really are. Not admitting a heros mistake allows one to perceive the hero as perfect.
Nevertheless, just because those looked upon as heroes make mistakes does not mean they are wrong all of the time. Stephen Koepp, Executive Editor of TIME magazine writes, we dont have any more of those all-purpose heroes, the king or teacher or paragon who is right and true all the time. Were kings and teachers right all the time? Those people who assume they know a hero most likely do not know them at all.
Real heroes are not perfect; an event has taken place in their life that allows them to open new doors for others. African American athletes and women who fought for equal rights are two examples. Koepp defines heroes as people with heroic passages in their life, which bravely shatter a limitation or convention and open up new possibilities in the life of others. Likewise, because of all the attention given to the famous and wealthy, Barnicle writes we rarely notice the courage at our doorstep or heroes on the sidewalk along us (128). Heroes are every day people who make big impacts on lives; possibly without even knowing it. Therefore, until the world learns to accept people as who they are and realize one can not live up to the standards society demands of them, heroes will continue to be only what society makes them.
Bibliography: Works Cited Barnicle, Mike. Heroes on Our Doorstep. The Structure of Argument 2 nd ed. Ed. Annette T. Rottenberg.
Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. Koepp, Stephen. What Theyre Made Of. TIME 153: 23 (1999). 19 Oct 1999... Peterson, Eugene H. Bathsheba-gate: what Bible heroes can teach us about scandals.
Christianity Today 42: 7 (1998). 21 Oct 1999...
Free research essays on topics related to: oct 1999, make mistakes, christianity today, larger than life, human beings
Research essay sample on Larger Than Life Human Beings
