How To Be a Hero

It is in human nature to create heroes. Star Wars has Luke, The Hunger Games has Katniss, Hogwarts has Harry, Narnia has Aslan, the worlds of Marvel or DC have…well, all the superheroes. We in America make heroes out of historical figures like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or, more recently, Barak Obama; other countries have their heroes too. Most of us spend our days searching for a savior, someone we can look up to and believe in. But what is it that makes these people heroes? The definition of a hero according to Merriam Webster is: “a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability,” “an illustrious warrior,” “a person admired for achievements and noble qualities,” or “one who shows great courage.” I suppose the figures mentioned above have these things, but I think that there is more to being a true hero than that. After all, some of the greatest villains of all time also had such characteristics. So, what is it that sets a hero apart?

Let us examine the stories. There are countless variations of heroes around the world, and we hardly have time to look at them all here, but consider those stories mentioned above, those that many of us in America might look to as examples. Luke is a great Jedi, not entirely mature, but powerful enough to become the leader of the resistance and defeat the enemy…though it costs him the life of his father and many dear friends. Katniss is an expert archer and just stubborn and passionate enough that she can kill the right enemies and lead people through a successful rebellion, whether she wants to or not…but she must sacrifice her family and honor to do so. Harry is born with power and destiny and through unexpected acts of courage he is able to fulfill his destiny and destroy evil…at the cost of many of those he loves. Aslan destroys evil and bring about the opportunity for the children (who are also generally heroes of their stories), to rule Narnia well by their strong and pure characters…but he has to sacrifice his life to do that. And each of the Marvel and DC heroes has the chance to defeat evil in their own storyline and come together with their fellow heroes to defeat the greatest enemy in the biggest battle…even at the cost of love, security, or life. While these stories are all different and portray varying levels of heroism from the main characters, it is safe to say that there is always a climax in which one great sacrifice is made that results in victory.

I find myself considering this more lately as we watch the upheaval going on around us. I think most of us are looking for a hero right now, and it seems many of us expect to find one in some political figure. We are hanging our hopes on the presidential election, each of us hoping our candidate will save America. Or perhaps we are looking for the hero in our local government, or in some leader of a revolution. Perhaps we are hoping to be the hero ourselves, by saying the right things and following the status quo. But how can we expect the right policies or political beliefs to save us? That is hardly what we look for in a hero when it comes to stories. We need something more than someone who says the right things: we need someone who actually does them. Someone who does the right things that no one else dares to do, not just for a political party, but for the people who need saving, no matter where they come from.

Of course, our protagonists are generally messed up; most of them share the very qualities that we fight against in our own lives. Consider the list above: Luke is weak and must overcome his fear and navigate some very tough relationships with his sister and father, Katniss is a bitter and self-absorbed girl who hates nearly everyone and has no desire to be a hero, Harry is a child who has to deal with years of heart-wrenching relationships and self-doubt, and the comic book superheroes each have whole cartoon and/or movie series devoted to their struggles. Only Aslan stands out as a hero who wasn’t messed up, but, then again, he was a lion, and those of us who read the books spent most of our time sympathizing with the frightened, doubtful children he engaged to carry out his missions while he was across the sea. If, then, all our heroes are so weak, why do we believe in them in the first place? What is it that leads us to think we can be saved by people so flawed, so very like us?

The problem is, all people mess up. Today, with social media, we can now know every single wrong thing that our leaders do. Sometimes we laugh them off, sometimes we demand proper punishment for them. No matter how hard we try, we can’t find the perfect hero that we imagine should exist, the one who overcomes the odds and all the personal flaws and does the one great thing that saves the world. In real life, even the heroes we look up to have so many flaws that we aren’t sure what to do with them. That is especially obvious in recent days as many of us tear down statues of historical figures that did great things and once were thought heroic, but who have now been revealed to be quite wrong in certain aspects of their character or beliefs. Where, then, can we find the heroes we grew up believing in? Were we wrong about them? Were they really just stories all along, not reflecting anything real, but instead portraying some innate desire we will never be able to fulfill?

Consider the story of the Lord of the Rings. The story is full of heroic characters, but only one is considered the ultimate “hero,” and that is Frodo, the small, frightened hobbit who ultimately fell to the power of the ring he was trying so hard to destroy. How could he be the hero when he ended up losing the battle? Well, it is because the story wasn’t about him. His goal was still accomplished, not because he did any great thing on his own, but because he did many right things. He carried the ring, he resisted its temptation long enough to get through Mordor, and, perhaps most importantly, he didn’t kill Gollum when he had the chance. Most of us who read the books or watch the films have no idea why he didn’t kill Gollum at the beginning, since he is hardly a heroic figure and ends up causing more trouble than he is worth. But, when the end comes, it is he who takes the ring to destruction, even if it is a mistake that costs him his life. No one thinks that Gollum is the hero because he was driven by selfish motives, but we can, perhaps, call Frodo a hero because he did the right thing by showing mercy to Gollum, and, in the end, that saved him. It saved the world.

This is how we can define a hero. It is not always one great man or woman performing one great act, though that sometimes happens. It isn’t all about that one perfect person that will solve all our problems. Instead, it comes by small steps, small choices to do the right thing time and time again, at the cost of comfort, happiness, or even life. The truest heroes were changing all along, not perfect, but growing. Only by striving to be better and help others were they finally able to win the battle or destroy the enemy. Perhaps they had to sacrifice a desired relationship or a loved one or a magical ring or even a life, but no victory ever came for free. That is what we have to remember. Our heroes, whoever they are, are going to be failures, just like us. But one thing sets them apart, and that is the element of sacrifice. In all the greatest stories, it is the sacrifice of one for many that finally wins the victory.

Perhaps we will find that in someone today, but that is hardly worth banking on. Instead of focusing our energy and attention on searching for that “right person” (whether in politics, religions, or even relationships), why don’t we instead choose to focus on becoming that right person? We like the heroes who are messed up because, deep down, we know that we too are messed up, but we hope that we too might someday be a hero. It is a theme that runs throughout all history, all the stories told, all the battles fought, and all the victories won. Everyone is hoping to be a hero, so let’s all live as if we were.

We can all choose to love other people, to give of ourselves for the greater good. Instead of just saying the right words, we can do the right things. We can stand up for what is right and cling to what is good; sacrifice our time, energy, money, and even our reputations so that we might help win the victory. It isn’t likely that any one person will make the difference that changes the world, so we’ll all have to work together to know what is right and carry it out, regardless of the consequences. Real heroism is to love what is right and to love other people enough that we will fight for that for them as well as for ourselves. That way, when the climax comes, we will be able to say that we each lived heroically because we fought for love. Because in the end, love is what matters. It’s what we all need, it’s what we all live for, and, ultimately, it's what every hero is willing to die for. It will almost certainly require sacrifice, but love itself is what will make us into the kind of people who the world will look upon as heroes. Only that has the power to save us.