Why Heroes Are Made

“Yeah, it’s like they say. Heroes aren’t born, they’re made!” Influential in its simplicity, this quote from the Dreamworks movie Megamind, supposes a truth that has implications for real people. That simple truth is, “Are people born to do great things and to change events around them, or do the events in a person’s life propel them to interfere in historical events?” This simple, yet insightful question can reveal that people are indeed made by the actions of others. Consequently, you can look at several leaders and important influences in our early history (American Revolution) and observe what influenced them to become the heroes that they were. Events and peoples actions change others to change their life’s actions, their thoughts, and
There are an abundance of men and women that had authority over the events that they were a participant of. Firstly, I will look at a woman who you would not expect to be famous or well known at this time period, Phillis Wheatley. It is even more surprising to discern what she was famous for, poetry. She was an African-American slave who resided in Boston with the couple that owned her. It was a strange thing for a slave to be educated at all, let alone how much tutoring that Phillis Wheatley actually received. Susanna Wheatley, her owner, taught Phillis in English, Latin, and Greek, as well as lessons in theology, history, mythology, and literature. If not for the education of Susanna, Phillis would not have gone to do the amazing things she did in her life. She published many poems in newspapers and later was the third woman ever to publish a book of poetry in America, and the first African-American to do so. She wrote poems about George Washington and got to visit him in her lifetime. Her poems even affected people as far away as England. None of those amazing achievements would be possible if Susanna Wheatley had not given her the education that Phillis deserved. So you can see that the actions of Susanna influenced Phillis Wheatley and gave her the opportunity to make
Thomas Jefferson, who was well known for his ability to write, but more importantly, his ability to write the Declaration of Independence. Historical documents do not materialize out of thin air, rather they need to be first thought of, and then written. Thomas Jefferson’s education was similar to Wheatley’s, outstanding. He was educated in writing, of course, rhetoric, and law. His ability to write so forcefully is what caught the attention of others so that they could ask him to draft the momentous document. Having a specific education in these subjects allowed Jefferson to write one of the most crucial documents in history, the powerfully written, legal document, the Declaration of Independence. Without his education and the teachers in his life, he would not have moved events in a new direction, one that leads America to