Heroism
The costs of being one and the costs to the nation if one does
not step forward
Being a hero has its costs, mainly to the one who would be a hero.
To be a hero means to model noble qualities, not to always do what is
popular. This may mean endangering one's own life to save anothers.
The magnitude of this decision is not an easy one, as when one's life
is in the sway, opinions thicken and hearts harden. Being a hero might
mean standing up to authority for something that you believe in, or
standing up for human rights for all oppressed peoples. However,
being a hero involves standing out, something that goes against the
group thought mechanisms discussed in the National Guard Pamphlet on
riots, as well as the portion where Colonel Sherbert addresses the
mob in Huckleberry Finn. In both, independent thought is displayed
as a heroic trait, and is shown as a diffucult trait to posess; the
underlying reason for this being the risk involved becoming a hero.
These risks weigh heavy in their potential costs.
Should someone not step up to the challenge of being a hero, and not
climb to the top of the mountain, then the nation faces serious problems.
Should the principal of Central High School chosen not to keep the
school open, then integration would not have occurred, having a major
price on the nation and its ethics and equality. Many important advances
would never have been made had it not been for those heroes stepping
forward; the case of Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence,
for example. Thus, had these events not occurred, catastrophic impacts
would have been held on the fate of our nation. Such is a parallel
with these different individuals in a similar moral dilemma.
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