Myths and Heroes: What is the place of Heroes in our society ?

Synthesis: Myths and Heroes.

The stories of men are numerous and diversified. Every generation has his stories. The "heroes": many stories are praising these people.  It is difficult to know if these stories are true. The storytellers tend to exaggerate the narratives to make them more interesting. This drives to fantastic and surrealist narratives. This genre of narrative is called myth or legend. But the heroes are not necessarily past or mythological characters of story.  Indeed, nowadays there are heroes, some fictitious others very real. What is the place of Heroes in our society ?

First, we will define the terms of « Myths » and « Hero ». Then, we will understand the role of the " modern Heroes ".

A myth is a story of forgotten or vague origin. A myth seeks to explain the origin of the universe or things we don't understand in our universe. There is no clear proof that it is true or false, it's a question of personal beliefs. Among the various types of myths, we can speak about mythological stories. We can quote Ulysses's adventures in the Odyssey or from Hercule and from his twelve works. But as said previously, there are also heroes in our time.

We can discern two categories of heroes: fictitious and real. Let us speak first about the one category. These invented characters play an important role for children. Indeed, the child who is in search of a personality sees a model there to be followed. But this perception changes with the age. For example, when we ask a child what is a hero, keywords will often return:« superpowers », « save people », « a person in a costume ». While for the same question asked to teenagers, the answers are not the same: « to sacrifice a reputation or life to help other », « inspires, gives hopes and dreams » .

Now, let's talk about heroes in real life. These heroes haven't super-powers but have all the same an important place. We consider as hero, the people who fought for a just cause, who dedicated their life to a positive change, who made the world progress. For exemple, Mandela can be seen as a hero. Nelson Mandela was a first black president  in South-Africa. He fought apartheid. Apartheid was a system in South Africa where there was a big segregation between white and black population. It lasted 43 years. Mandeal is a real hero, he tooks up arms to defend justice in the price of his life. He was put in prison but he never lost hope. Becoming president, he proved to the world that we can to realize our dreams by believing and never giving up. But it is not necessary to have made big things to be one hero. Your parents can be as well heroes for you. Everything depends on our vision of things.

In conclusion, contrary to the myth where the heroes can have super-powers, the modern heroes, fictitious or real, represent the model of the person to follow. It is thus important to explain to the children what is one hero, it allows them to differentiate the good and evil. Be a hero, it's to fight all his life for a just cause. If we work for a better world, we are too heroes. Because it is the small acts of the everyday life that make of us what we are. Then, are you a hero?

...