The People I Consider to Be My Heroes

In our everyday lives we see many acts of heroism. Whether it be on the field during a playoff game, in your favorite Marvel movie, or even in your favorite book, but all of them have perseverance when they’re going through a conflict. A classical hero is considered to be a “warrior who lives and dies in the pursuit of honor. Many people use heroes to look up to and seek advice from. In our world today we are so caught up in ourselves, we never take time to look up to others for help, but with your hero in mind on a daily basis you considering taking a step back and look to your hero for help. In this essay I will answer the question “Who is your hero and why?”.

When being asked who is my hero, my mind immediately thinks to Nelson Mandella. Nelson Mandela was a social rights activist who became South Africa's first black president from 1994 to 1999. Nelson Mandela was thought of as the father of South Africa. Nelson Mandela was an anti-Apartheid activist, which means that fought for those who were at a disadvantage from the social system of racial segregation. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and sentenced to life in prison for trying to overthrow the state following the Rivonia Trial. For most of Mandela's life he was thought of as a terrorist and called horrible remarks. For 25 years in prison he still kept staying positive and not giving up. He even made friendship with his jailer. Once he got out of jail he still respected every human. Even the white minority that had held millions of his fellow black countrymen to slave labour. This man is truly a hero and one who humbles us all.

One fictional character that I feel earns the title of a hero is Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is the protagonist of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss is an excellent hunter and archer. Her father died in a mine explosion so Katniss had been the sole provider for her family, a role she was forced to take on at the age of eleven when her mother's grief from losing her husband overcame her ability to function. In this society there is a series of games called “The Hunger Games”. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12-18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle royale to the death”. In all irony Katniss’s younger sister Primrose gets chosen to compete in the games. Like the hero Katniss is she jumped in and volunteered as tribute to take her sister's place in the games. Through these games the tribute faces extreme and severe tasks to take on. They must fight to survive. Katniss has great bravery and courage taking on this spot for her sister. She saved her sisters life because of the great love she has for her. A true hero cares for others and puts others in front of themselves, and that is exactly what Katniss did.

My last example of a hero is not only my personal hero, my role model, and best friend, but my mother. Not only is she the glue to my family but she also serves others day and night. When my mom was 16 she came over to America by herself to find a job and get money to help pay the bills back home. Little did she know she would move here permanently and become a successful nurse. When my mom had her first child, my brother Sean, she left her job for a year and stayed home to take care of my brother. Instead of choosing the path of being a stay at home mom she decided to sacrifice her time with her children to complete strangers who needed her the most. Even if that meant taking a night shift, or working on Christmas, she knew there were people who needed her help. My mom is a true hero because she puts others in front of herself on a daily basis. She gives away her life to people who sometimes aren’t as grateful as they should be. She deals with people spitting on her, people screaming in her face, and even people trying to hit her. But she preserves and does it all almost everyday. My mom is a true hero in my eyes.