Posted

Mar 30th 2007

Mood

Angry

Music

I hope we don't get exploded - Peachcake

Cody Long
History
Mr. Phillips
March 29, 2007
HEROES ARE UNREALISTIC
In Western societies, it is common to have a "hero," someone (usually in the public eye), who's accomplishments you're to look up to and try to emulate. I do not agree with this facet of American culture. Trying to become your hero can cause negative effects on your social wellbeing and hold you back from achieving in the future.
Obviously, I do not have a hero. In my opinion, trying to hold oneself up to the standards of a hero is unrealistic. To begin with, both you and I may not know the background this person is coming from. Say my hero was a movie star: did they really reach stardom all on their own? Did they have a friend in the business that helped them get opportunities that I, a commoner, would not have? In most biographies that praise a hero, they will not explicitly state the advantages this person had over a normal person in achieving their goals.
There is also the risk of this hero being a bad example for the youths that emulate them. A prominent case would be with baseball players who used to chew tobacco while on the mound. Kids who emulated these players would want to be 'cool' like them, and would begin taking up chewing tobacco or other drugs. As we know now, chewing tobacco can cause both gum and tongue cancer. Although most baseball players have switched over to chewing gum, undoubtedly these behaviors can continue now with rock stars or other famous persons who use illegal drugs such as marijuana and cocaine.
Following in the footsteps of heroes can also impede your own cultivation of different talents. Although the common adage is "you can do anything you want to with hard work," I'd have to disagree. If I spent my entire life trying to be someone who actually had talent in their field of choice, while I had none, I'd miss out on becoming better at other things I was good at and liked. Not everyone is born to be a sports star, politician, or musician; however, if we blindly go through life believing we can be because someone else has, we can miss out on opportunities to become our own individual. A wasted life is a sad thing, indeed.
This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that while heroes can be a good thing in some cases, the negatives of trying to emulate someone in the public eye outweigh the benefits. Because heroes are humans, they will make mistakes or exhibit bad behaviors that the people who follow them will try to imitate. Not only that, but heroes can also give you a false sense of hope that you can be just like that, rather than succeeding being your own person.

(Posting this here not really as an exhibit, but rather to access it at school for printing ;__