I know I’ve written alot today, but bear with me.

I was playing one of my old games today. As I finished up an story that I have finished many times, My mind started wandering to the identity and motives of the hero. What was it that heroes do that make them heroes? Everyone can point out a hero they know of in fiction or reality, but how often do we really think about what makes them heroes? Are there any specific attributes that make us love them so much? Or is it all just the way the present themselves? I started thinking, and inevitably, started writing.

The words of Arthur Ashe came to mind. “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” A hero is defined not by single act or catchphrase, but by servitude. This rings true through time and history, how every man, woman, and child could be the hero of someone else’s life. Servitude is a demonstration of the care that a person feels for another person. By subjecting herself to the needs of someone else, the hero shows that they are capable of representing the virtues that define heroism. Of all the virtues written across fables and religious books the world over, three in particular stand out as heroic. Three interwoven virtues to heroism by servitude are integrity, actions, and attitude.
Heroes would be unlikely to perform any heroic feats if they were not guided by their own set of values. These values can stem from religion, tradition, or an overdeveloped sense of justice. The values that can define a hero are more commonly centered around what is best for the community. By keeping to their personal codes of honor, these heroes show that they place great importance on living a moral life. In a society where the importance of a moral life is undermined as it is in America’s media it is amazing that anyone can be morally inclined. A hero need only be focused on assisting the people around her in order to claim this heroic virtue. Thus is a hero guided by the integrity of his creed and faith.
However, Hebrews states that faith without deeds is dead. Without acting in a way consistent with their beliefs, the hero can not honestly claim such beliefs. Thus heroes could be defined by the actions they take and the way they react to circumstances around them. A doctor could be a hero for performing surgery to save the life of a man with cancer. A soldier could become a hero by saving a team by risking her own life. Both the doctor and the soldier have submitted themselves in servitude; the doctor served his patient while the soldier serving his country. Actions of self-sacrifice can defines a hero, no matter how trivial they may be. As Edgar Watson Howe said, “A boy doesn’t have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn’t like pie when he sees there isn’t enough to go around.” By surrendering their own desires for the benefit of others, anyone can achieve this level of heroic virtue.
Even the actions the hero performs may not weigh as much as his attitude while he performs them. Although it can manifest itself in many different ways, a heroic attitude is usually aligned with a hero’s religion or life philosophy. A hero could be defined by a defiant attitude against a great oppressor, a humble attitude when speaking to peers, or even a caring attitude when assisting others. The attitude that defines a given hero is one of the essences of who they are. The hero acts and speaks in a manner that sets her apart from the less congenial members of society. A person’s attitude changes the way other people react to them, so a person with a very poor attitude is unlikely to ever be regarded as a hero. By keeping to a positive outlook on life, a hero’s attitude can earn him/her this third heroic virtue.
“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.” These are the words of Joseph Campbell, the author of Hero with a Thousand Faces. Joseph believes as I do, that only by rising to the occasion and doing what must be done, rather than what one would like to do, can one ever truly become a hero. All of the heroic virtues that have and could have been listed are interwoven to form one word; that word is servitude. The hero only becomes a hero when she has been in willing submission to another. The mark that a hero leaves on another person’s life is astonishing. By surrendering privileges or freedoms for the sake of another, the hero cements the quality of those actions into the mind of the person being served. As was said by Benjamin Disraeli, “The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.”