Never knew that you can become a hero by doing the smallest thing you can do. Simply by lifting a pole with a piece of cloth tied on it. Six men did that and became a hero, but only three lived to tell the story. You go to fight a war thinking you’re coming back, but you won’t, at least not the same you that went. The things you see and do changes you drastically. James Bradley a man whose father was one of the six courageous young men to raise the flag in the battle of Iwo Jima during World War II wrote the story Flags of Our Fathers.…
“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It’s all part of the fairytale.” -Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn. Heroes can be found in normal, everyday people; however, they go unnoticed because they did not have to overcome a great calamity to perform an action. More well known heroes have all overcome the worst of situations imaginable. For example, Ms. Riley from October Sky had fought Hodgkin’s Disease while helping Homer and the Rocket Boys achieve their dream. Rainsford from The Most Dangerous Game fought to the death in a game he did not believe in or wanted to participate in. Josh Sundquist became an award winning author and a Paralympian after defeating cancer and having his leg amputated at age nine. A hero is one who is selfless, overcomes adversity, and inspires others.…
Throughout “Redeployment” Phil Klay looks to bring what the front lines of war look like, with example of firsthand accounts. Klay portrays what happens during the actual war in Iraq, with specific details from the characters, such as deaths of members in the character’s platoons or specific duties given to the characters such as killing wild or food-deprived dogs who eat whatever they can off of corpses that they find, but Klay also speaks of what happens after the veterans come home, touching on the subject of disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or controversy with their branch of military, whether it is directly or indirectly related to them. By the end of “Redeployment,” Klay has effectively proven that different forms of…
Mankind has always needed someone or something to believe in, a force that can protect them, a being they can glorify for blessings. That being mankind has chosen to direct their energy, faith, trust, and love has mostly been called a God. In every continent, in different centuries in history, from culture to culture, through the various religions that exist you can always find a God that people worship. In Sundiata, an Epic of Old Mali, the jinn closely represents and has the characteristics that can be categorized as a God. I will discuss these characteristics that can lead one to believe that the jinn is a God as well as discussing some of the differences the jinn and Gods share.…
When the word “hero” is brought up, one typically thinks of someone who is saving lives, or even a superhero. Clearly, saving lives are heros, but a hero’s impact can be so much more simple. Unlike a superhero, heroes can often have a relatable quality. John Green has this relatability as well as the ability to create an impact with words. The author and YouTuber connects with people across the globe, often making a difference in their lives. John Green also follows a typical Hero’s Journey Archetype; going through initiation, departure and return home. Despite being known as a young adult author, John Green proves that he is a hero, through his writing and action as he follows the Hero’s Journey.…
Chris Kyle is a real hero who fought a war in Iraq and at the time had a wife and two children at home. When Chris comes back from Iraq, he is a different person because of the things he witnessed at war. He is a sniper and everyone called him The Legend. In this book, the author's intended purpose was to show people the real struggles of a soldier and their family. Not only does he withdraw from society and becomes anxious, but he begins to act like a whole different person. His wife realizes this very quickly and calls him out and tells him she wants her husband back. Thus explaining that not only does war effect the soldier's every day life when they are sent back to the real world, but it effects everyone around them. When a solider like Chris returns home they don't forget everything they seen and did which leads to PTSD, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders. The author is trying to open people's eyes to how much the soldiers and their family's actually sacrifice to protect our country. People should read this book because it shows the aftermath of war and how it effects the people that are…
Most soldiers come back from war with physical injuries. However there are also the injuries without the physical scars; the “hidden” wounds of battle. The horrors of armed conflict and war often leave scars on the psyches of soldiers. Soldiers often come home diagnosed with psychological disorders. They are affected mentally by their war experiences. Ernest Hemingway’s, “Soldier’s Home” portrays war in a realistic and raw perspective because it focuses on the war’s true capability to mentally damage and drastically change a soldier.…
Many people think of a hero as a man or women that do an incredible act and more often than not many people look up to that one person. In the story A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, the main character Phoenix Jackson is defined as a hero. The hero in this story resembles what is known as unconscious heroism, which is a person doing heroic actions and not be aware that they actually are doing something heroic. Phoenix demonstrates this in many ways. Phoenix faces great danger during a trip she made down town one very cold December day to pick up medicine for her grandson. Phoenix is very old, frail, and nearly blind. This trip required her to climb through a barbed wire fence and cross a frozen stream. This particular trip almost kills her as she runs across a hunter. As she finally gets to town, she has a very interesting conversation with some nurses she meets at the hospital.…
Within the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien said, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it.” O’Brien is a Vietnam veteran who does not consider himself a hero. This is interesting because while growing up in the United States of America, people have learned that all veterans are heroes. Americans were raised on hearing war stories that were uplifting and encouraging, but when O’Brien wrote the book, The Things They Carried, he wrote it in the sense that not all war stories are true. That is why he called the book “a work of fiction”;…
Norman Bowker carried the guilt of being unable to save Kiowa for the rest of his life. After Speaking of Courage was written, “Norman Bowker...hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa” (O’Brien SC 149). For some people, like Bowker, they reach a breaking point where they cannot handle their own thoughts and memories anymore. By adding this information to the book, O’Brien brings light to the ever growing number of people who have returned from war and cannot cope with their memories. Most people do not realize the effect war has on a person simply because they have never been to war, but they also do not try to reach out to a veteran and help them. Hopefully by adding this story of Bowker, people can try to change the way they view veterans and maybe even try to help them get through their struggles.…
One in five Iraq and Afghan veterans suffers from PTSD or major depression (One in Five, 2008). Unlike the physical wounds that maim or disfigure, the wounds of PTSD often remain invisible to other service members, family members, and to society in general (Tanielian, 2008). Realities of combat expose soldiers to traumatic, life-threatening events – some of which involve killing other human beings. Even more traumatic, soldiers witness their comrades being killed or maimed – or the lives of innocent women and children wasted in the mayhem of combat. A recent Rand study has shown that soldiers who have been wounded or who vicariously experience traumas (such as – having a friend who was seriously wounded or killed) are more likely than others to have PTSD. As part of the warrior’s journey, many soldiers go through a dark and challenging time after encountering life-threatening, traumatic wartime experiences. These Soldiers then experience either Post-Adversity Growth or Post-Traumatic Stress (Army homepage, 2014). If the latter condition is left untreated, it can turn into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But uniformed observers may not be aware of the invisible wounds that result from life-threatening war-zone experiences. But this much we can comprehend: An increasing number of soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan…
What are heroes? more specifically what is an hero to you? In the article Hero Inflation written by Nicholas Thompson, he describes and tells those in America that the word hero today isn’t what it used to be. Traditionally, in the past hero was looked up as doing a heroic act, not required of them to do so. That the word itself, and what people describe it to be today is lowered, that we “cheapen the word in some ways, the exploits of people who have earned the right to be called that in past”. Me personally disagree with that method, and many others in society would argue on their behalf. We all have freedom of speech so I can’t say he is wrong, but i do believe everyone has their own opinion to what a hero can be, and that could be anything. Depending on what he or she may believes. I would also like to point out that those that have past on the men and women in the 9/11 incident deserve what ever award or rank that was given to them. It was only right to give them what they put their lives on the line for. I don’t think its right to give everyone a medal from the incident, but only to those who were willing to go out there, knowing their lives were in jeopardy. Labeling police, and fire fighters does not cheapen what hero stands for. They all, that day, put their lives on the line knowing it was a 50/50 chance of making it out. They all had decisions to not go through with it, even if it were their jobs. It is wrong to say they were just doing there jobs. Tell that to those you have lost a loved one from that tragic day. They deserve everything they receive and more.…
When you think of war, you most likley think of guns, gory combat, and murder. However, we all recognize our soldiers as heroes, people to look up too, rolemodels. When we think of a war hero, we think of what they did in the war, most likley saving, and killing many people. Wars are all about violence, so it would be safe to assume that in order to recieve a metal or be a hero, you would need to fight in battles for your honor, killing many. One man proved everyone wrong.…
War will never be pretty or fun. It will always be gruesome and will cause the loss of many lives. Everyone grieves over those lives that were lost, but what about the people that live? What about the people that are in the military hospitals who are now amputees? How about the ones that have psychological problems? What about those who have physical and mental issues? People are often not informed of this. One type of a mental disease is known as PTSD, there is a cause, effects, and treatment to this often carried war disease.…
Tick, E. (2005). War and the soul: Healing our nation 's veterans from post-traumatic stress disorder. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.…