I think everyone has hero. I think everyone is a hero to somebody. Whether you are a parent, a big sibling, an emergency worker or a leader to many or few, everyone is a hero or is going to be a hero. I argue that everyone is supposed to be a hero. Whether you want to or not. We've all grown up with stories of courageous people in movies, in literature and in scripture. Anyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to yes, Jesus himself, is a version of the hero we all look up to.
We look to them as a sort of template. A kind of loose guide to what we want to be to or to what we should be. Our obsession with heroes interests m e a lot. It takes a sing'e look at the most popular films over the past decade or so. We just love our heroes. We even athletes into heroes. Super-athletes that play football and basketball at such a high level, levels us regulars could never reach because of our biological short-comings.
This obsession can be two things, we look up to these heroes for two things, escapism from our own mundane lives, living vicariously through these athletes or comic book heroes because they do what us normals could never. The other option is that we project ourselves onto these people. We see ourselves as a version of these heroes. We try to live as these heroes as opposed to living through them. This is an important distinction between the different types of people that enjoy the hero's journey. For example, there are people that watch success stories and feel good when they see the underdog get the big victor.
But there's also the person that is not concerned with the success, but is more interested in the story, the rise from underdog, to hero. The person that goes out and lives like the hero. The person that views the hero as a template for behavior rather than a story, is the hero. Standing idly whilst the hero does hero things is simply not enough. It's nice to hear a story, but it's better to be the story. There will always be more worth in living as the hero, than reading about one.
I'm not saying you need to be Batman and go out and eventually get your head kicked in, no. I'm saying be the every day hero. Help someone in need, take action in every day life rather than be a bystander. Take responsibility and live as though everyone is looking up to you. Be the change, be the hero of your own story and you'll see the parallels with all the heroes you've looked up to. In fact, you won't look up to your heroes, you'll be standing alongside them.
We look to them as a sort of template. A kind of loose guide to what we want to be to or to what we should be. Our obsession with heroes interests m e a lot. It takes a sing'e look at the most popular films over the past decade or so. We just love our heroes. We even athletes into heroes. Super-athletes that play football and basketball at such a high level, levels us regulars could never reach because of our biological short-comings.
This obsession can be two things, we look up to these heroes for two things, escapism from our own mundane lives, living vicariously through these athletes or comic book heroes because they do what us normals could never. The other option is that we project ourselves onto these people. We see ourselves as a version of these heroes. We try to live as these heroes as opposed to living through them. This is an important distinction between the different types of people that enjoy the hero's journey. For example, there are people that watch success stories and feel good when they see the underdog get the big victor.
But there's also the person that is not concerned with the success, but is more interested in the story, the rise from underdog, to hero. The person that goes out and lives like the hero. The person that views the hero as a template for behavior rather than a story, is the hero. Standing idly whilst the hero does hero things is simply not enough. It's nice to hear a story, but it's better to be the story. There will always be more worth in living as the hero, than reading about one.
I'm not saying you need to be Batman and go out and eventually get your head kicked in, no. I'm saying be the every day hero. Help someone in need, take action in every day life rather than be a bystander. Take responsibility and live as though everyone is looking up to you. Be the change, be the hero of your own story and you'll see the parallels with all the heroes you've looked up to. In fact, you won't look up to your heroes, you'll be standing alongside them.
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