Joseph Campbell classifies a hero as someone “Who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Now you could say that a number of people in my collage have fulfilled that definition of a hero. The soldiers of Iwo Jima, George Washington and General Patton just to name a few. I really like this next quote, “The public hero is sensitive to the needs of his time.” Many people such as Martin Luther King Jr. were sensitive to the needs of their time. They did what they had to do to better humanity at the time. This interview made me realize that “You can't say life is useless because it ends in the grave.”
A large portion of the heroes in my collage have long since been dead, but their lasting effects still live on. Take Bach for example, he changed the face of music as we know it and to this day people are still playing music he has written. Now you might ask how people like Tom Brady, Steve Nash, and Lance Armstrong are heroes. This is where I tend to alter from what Campbell is saying. Campbell states, “The one who watches athletic games instead of participating in athletics is involved in a surrogate achievement.” The way today's sports are set up it makes it almost impossible for everyone to play.
Instead of looking like a fool people do the next best thing, they pick someone who has had success and use them as their hero/idol. Their achievements might not be as heroic as the people actually completing the task but at least that person has someone to look up to, to give them faith. Maybe with a bit of luck their hero will spur them on to “slay their inner dragon.” It is almost like the person that they are idolizing is their teacher that helps them get on the right track to complete their inner deed. Mr. Campbell says “A good teacher is there to watch the young person and recognize what the possibilities are-then to give advice, not commands.”
Now Lance Armstrong might not be able to be at you side coaching you on what to do but he is there to set an example that anyone can follow. Finally Campbell ends his essay with this quote, “The adventure of the hero-the adventure of being alive.” I agree full heartedly with this statement because life is all about challenges and taking them on even though you might not have wanted to. Overall I believe that Campbell is saying that there is a hero in every one of us and that we have to take on that challenge in order to succeed. Most of the heroes in the collage found something they were good at and stuck with it, trained daily to complete their inner challenge and became the best person they could possibly be. A hero, “Someone who has given their life to something bigger than oneself.”
