In life, we all have heroes that we idolize and even worship at times. There are heroes from someone’s imagination and real-life heroes as well.

I am a huge comic book fan, and at times I wonder what it would be like to obtain their superpowers. I want to be like them. My personal favorite is Iron Man. There is something about the way he carries himself that I admire. Then there are also heroes that actually exist but get less attention than they deserve.

What exactly is a hero?

Heroes are people who are admired or idealized for their courage, magnificent achievements, or noble virtues.

Over time, superheroes have managed to squeeze their way into our social needs. We look to them as idols, figures of hope or even role models. For the more humanly heroes, we enjoy them even if they are flawed because we can relate to them. The concept seems to make them more like us, so we want to believe that can be us one day.

There are so many heroes to aspire to in our fantasy world, but what candle do they hold to the real-life heroes we have?

Fictional heroes we look up to:

Iron Man

Anthony Edward Stark is an extremely intelligent man. His parents died when he was twenty-one, and then he inherited Stark Enterprises. He became a hero when he decided that he no longer wanted to make weapons of destruction. These weapons were being sold to enemy countries. Then he decided that he would make a defense system to help his country, therefore creating the Iron Man.

Wonder Woman

Diana Prince is an Amazon warrior princess. She was given power by the Gods to fight against the evil of all forms.  She travels the world spreading the message of strength and love given to her by the women on the island of Themyscira. Wonder Woman fights crime and is a positive role model for women.

No men or women could possibly possess the powers that these two created individuals have. There are real men and women who risk their lives though. In fact, they go out of their ways to save lives on a daily basis.

The sad part is that these created beings get more credit and tend to give more hope than the people who are actual real-life heroes.

Real-life heroes we should look up to:

Mary E. Walker

Born on November 26, 1832, Mrs. Walker was the first woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor in 1865. She is known for her work as a women’s rights activist. She looked to change restrictive styles for women’s fashion and refused to be held back by her gender. Mrs. Walker pursued a career in a predominated field of men as a doctor.

After the Civil War began in 1861, Walker volunteered as a nurse. She later decided to return to school to earn a degree but soon returned to the war.

In the year of 1864, she was captured and imprisoned amongst the Confederate Army. Months later she was released and supervised a hospital for women prisoners and later an orphanage.

Mary died on February 21, 1919, in Oswego, New York.

Lindell Marbut

Mr. Marbut is an 85-year-old man who saved the lives of two women from a fiery crash. Lindell witnessed an out of control car flip over in his front yard. This hero chose to ignore the flames and rush to the aid of a twenty-two-year-old driver and her passenger. Marbut’s caretaker ran to call 911 to get help, but Marbut was wasting no time. He took his walking stick as he saw a woman’s hand sticking out and pulled her from a fiery death.

Eighty-five years of age and a man that could barely walk without some assistance saved these two women’s lives.

What heroes are made of

There are many acts of heroism done every day. Yet, we choose to marvel over the ones that we see on our television sets because they are different than us. They possess ability or abilities that we can never have.

In reality, we should marvel over the real-life heroes. I am speaking of the ones who don’t receive publicity or have millions of dollars thrown at their feet.

Although the creations of such heroes as Iron Man and Wonder Woman give us hope, it is men and women such as Mary E. Walker or Lindell Marbut who deserve the real recognition.

It is important that we show respect and recognition to people such as firefighters, doctors, plus men and women who reach out every day to save lives.

References:

  1. http://marvel.com/universe/Iron_Man_(Anthony_Stark)
  2. http://people.com/human-interest/85-year-old-man-saves-two-women-from-burning-car

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