How Perseverance and Helpfulness Make Barack Obama a Hero

Barack Obama is a heroic figure that plays an important role for many people. In the novel, Obama from Promise to Power by David Mendell proves he is a hero, as he has demonstrated many characteristics of a hero throughout his journey of being a president. As Obama shows perseverance to become president when no one would believe he could. Obama also shows the characteristics of a hero when he helps other countries get past their difficult situations when they are in need of. Another characteristic he shows is being passionate and caring towards others, as he was a real man and was not afraid of everyone seeing his true emotions. A hero is explained to be a person of whom is admired or idealized for Perseverance, Helpfulness, passionate or caring qualities, perfectly describing Barack Obama as a heroic figure.

In Obama: from Promise to Power, Obama truly believes perseverance is key to almost everything. He works hard for everything, starting from the moment his dad leaves him, at the age of three. “Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy”. He realizes that most difficult situations require more effort which may cause more reward if accomplished. Obama has his heart set on becoming president, even when a great number of people at the time did not believe he could do so. Some people's negative attitude inspired him to work even harder. Despite this discouragement on his life, he manages to inspire and impact a huge number of people. These same people are encouraged to persevere and realize their dreams. Another reason Obama is a heroic figure is because he is changing the mindset of numerous people. That being any color or race does not matter, to accomplish a goal. People always recognize Obama as the black man who is president and not for what he is doing for the country. Considering, he is the first African-American president ever, it a huge deal and it means a lot to many people. It gives much hope to them, that if a black man can become president of the USA. Others could become almost anything they want. Obama promises to unite a nation, with divisions and differences, he wants to build a country that accepts and is welcoming to all races and religions. “But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher or person... And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try”. Obama knows people of color is always looked down and frowned upon, he perseveres and tries to achieve his goal of changing the outlook on people of color. He makes many individuals of color understand that skin color does not make a difference and that with perseverance and determination anything is possible. Hero’s use perseverance as a way to clear false information and to do the right thing and fix the bad. Obama uses perseverance since it took him a while to change everyone minds, but he shows that with hard work and determination it happens. By doing this Obama makes the lives of other black people easier. He shows a lot of perseverance throughout the book, therefore, proving he is a heroic figure.

Obama is a hero considering he uses all of his power to help others. He concentrates on wars and terrorism in different nations which require help. He helps other countries during their wars, considering he knows having a war could be difficult and could affect things greatly. “... I pledge my support to the millions of people wounded and displaced by the catastrophe”. A hero would always help do the right thing even if it does not involve them. Not only did he help end the war between Afghanistan and Iraq, but Obama also works very hard in order to maintain peace between the two countries. Obama is helping Afghanistan get rid of their main problem which was caused by Osama Bin Laden. To help Afghanistan, Obama sent out Navy Seals to kill Osama Bin Laden. Obama continues helping countries until they are at peace and have no big problems. In addition, Obama is a heroic figure to others, since he helps the people who are jobless and people who cannot pay for healthcare. Obama is a heroic figure because he wants to improve the market to support the jobless people to make it accessible for them to get a job. Obama also makes healthcare available to others in need of medical care. 'Yes, we've still got more work to do. More work to do for every American still in need of a good job or a raise paid leave or a decent retirement; for every child who needs a sturdier ladder out of poverty or a world-class education...'. Although any time he sees someone in need of help, his focus is to help them. Obama not only helps the people of his own country but he helps the country of others like a true hero. Obama’s helpfulness is mostly for the benefit of others.

Lastly, Obama is a hero because he is caring and passionate of others. During a speech, in the book Obama from Promise to Power, he was talking about twenty kids and six adults in an elementary school getting killed from a shooting. As he was talking about it, he starts to cry. '... hug our children a little tighter and we’ll tell them that we love them, ... But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight. And they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans. And I will do everything in my power as President to help'. He is a real hero, when talking about it he showed true emotion and was trying to inform everyone to take a stand and to stop this from happening again. As Obama is in tremendous pain because when losing someone close, and him knowing he did nothing to prevent it makes him feel horrible. Another example of showing how Obama is caring and passionate towards others is when Obama went to a food bank in Chicago during Thanksgiving to surprise and help volunteers package meals for families in need. “They do great work, ... making sure that those who aren’t as fortunate are able to enjoy the kind of Thanksgiving meal that so many of us take for granted”. This shows how caring he is to help those in need during a special holiday, considering he knows how some families do not get any food during the holidays and others always tend to forget to give anything.

To conclude the essay, Obama lives by the value his mom has taught him 'Be kind and be useful and caring about people who are less fortunate than you'. He cares for the future of others and always wants to help them and make sure they are healthy.

Work Cited

1. Mendell, David. “Obama From Promise to Power”. HarpercollinsPublishers 2017