November 5 2012 Is It Possible To Be A Hero In The Modern World?

Most people, especially kids, think that those with unique suits and special powers are heroes. Movies and books show us that heroes are perfect, strong, and different from humans. However, I believe heroes help us every day in the modern world. The problem is we don’t notice them because there are so many.

In all wars, many will die. We still remember a few people who have sacrificed their lives for their countries. For example, John Brown, an abolitionist, thought that freeing the slaves was the right thing to do. At age 59, he was hanged in front of 20,000 people. Southerners praised his death; Northerners commented on his greatness. Another example is Oskar Schindler. When World War II started, he gave up his career and decided to build factories in Poland to employ Jewish workers, which saved them from torture and death in concentration camps. This led to Schindler being arrested two times, but that didn’t stop him from keeping his factories running.  He also managed to remain on excellent terms with the German officials and save doomed Jews at the same time. In 1942, Oscar Schindler assembled his first famous Polish factory, which employed Jews of all ages working together, making supplies for the German Army. There were definitely times when nothing was going the right way, but Schindler didn’t give up and continued to fight for what was honorable and correct. He also gave the SS (a powerful force that served Hitler) false records, saying that he didn’t have any under or over-aged workers.

These individuals sacrificed their lives for others. Most of us know who they are. However, they weren’t particularly muscular or different than us. They were just ordinary people who wanted to make a change.   

Today, heroes around the world, from the teachers who help students learn, the janitors who clean our bathrooms, bus drivers who help us get to work, to the workers who take out our garbage, help us daily. Only a few of these people receive notice, but I believe that the world continues to grow because every one of them helps improve our environment, culture, and many other aspects of life. We should respect these heroes because without them, we wouldn’t have a world like this.