Definition Of Heroism

Heroism essay
“It is impossible to strive for the heroic life. The title of hero is bestowed by the survivors upon the fallen, who themselves know nothing of heroism.” -Johan Huizinga. What do you think of when you hear the word hero? Do you think of someone with a cape flying around and defeating villains? Or do you imagine what Johan Huizinga sees? In the provided quote, Johan describes a hero as someone who doesn’t always have the intention of doing something heroic. Heroism can be shown in many different ways. Anywhere from saving someone from serious harm to simply being kind to someone who needs it. There are many traits a hero needs such as confidence, daring, and passion.

To start things off, a hero must have confidence. That means
They have to be willing to do things that they wouldn’t regularly do. Just like with confidence, they have to trust themselves in any dangerous situation. If someone or something was in danger, someone who is daring would risk anything to help them. One example of this is a story from a man named Donald C. Copps. Copps was dog sitting his neighbor's dog. “They were on one of the courses at the North Naples, Fla. community of Olde Cypress when [the dog] jumped off a dock to cool off in a nearby lake, but unbeknownst to him, there was a seven-foot alligator making its way toward the paddling dog.… Luckily, Copps noticed what was about to happen and sprang into action. He jumped in the water and splashed his way towards the dog, while two friends yelled at the gator, hoping to distract it. The gator bit Carbon's left thigh, but thanks to Copps' quick thinking, managed to escape a worse fate. Copps loaded a yelping Carbon into a golf cart and took him to the ER…” Says Naples Daily News. Friends of Copps said that if he wouldn’t have helped four year old Carbon, that alligator would have drowned him. This shows that a hero can’t be scared or shy. Like his friends said, if he was scared, the dog would not have survived. Thankfully, Copps wasn’t didn’t have either of those traits. His daring actions clearly defines him as a
Strong feelings and beliefs constantly drive heroes to do great things. People like Martin Luther King Jr who are passionate about a serious topic or issue and never give up are true heroes. If he didn’t have passion, millions of people wouldn’t have rights. Passion drives a lot of people do keep going. In the quote from Andy Biersack, “Without someone telling you what you are doing is wrong, you can’t say that what you are doing it right.” People told Martin Luther King Jr that what he was doing was wrong, but he kept going. Heroes don’t give up, no matter what people say. If MLK would have given up, the world would be a lot different. That’s why we need heroes to be