Heroes

A few weeks ago in Honors Language Arts, my teacher took us out into the hall and had just stand of opposite sides of the hallway. She had us write our definition of the word "hero" on a notecard, and then read off a list of notable names. If the person fit the definition on our cards, we would move to the other side of the hallway. By the third name, everyone had moved, agreeing that people such as their mothers, Michael Jackson, and Dobby the house-elf were heroes to them. The point of the exercise was to get us thinking for our upcoming definition essay (which, incidentally, I should really be working on), but I kept on thinking about it as we went back to the classroom, and throughout the rest of the day. My definition was something like "a person who has paved a path, whom you aspire to, who has fought in a battle of some sort and gave it a full attempt; basically, a role model." Is this true to me? I really don't know yet.

In one of my favorite books, Waiting For Normal, Addie is talking to her new friends about heroes. "A hero is somebody who sets themselves apart from others," she says, quoting the dictionary. "You know-someone who is strong or show courage, takes a risk. And I know Webster's is probably talking about well-known heroes. Like from the newspapers and history book. Inventors and athletes and people like Martin Luther King. But don't you think it's possible...that every person is a hero to someone else?"

I trust Addie, who was left to take care of her baby sisters all alone for three days in the middle of the winter at age nine, and has had to live with her crazy mother, seperated from the rest of her family. So am I right? I never said in my defnintion that you had be famous or anything. I guess I have to look at my own heroes.

There's my math teacher, who graduated from college last year and is a huge feminist, always standing up for herself and the rest of her gender. She doesn't let anyone say anything negative in her class (when I mentioned that I was going to be free at lunch the next week to take a test because I didn't have Battle of the Books anymore because we were going to lose at Regionals, she made me write an essay on confidence. And it had to be less than fifty words, becuase otherwise it wouldn't be hard for me). She's shown me what I want to be like, even though we don't have the same personality. I've even taken to writing down the things she's said in the year so far: "I'm talking about this [in math class] because everything we do here is integrated. Language arts, music, social studies, math...they're all integrated, because life is integrated." Or, "Someone who has one great hit in their baseball career is not considered a great hitter because of that one hit. You have to be consistent."

And what about Malala Yousafzai, who stuck up for her country, gender, and education by doing just what I'm doing, only with a purpose in mind? My gosh, she is my hero for so many reasons, along with thousands of other girls around the world. Every time I see her speak (the same video over and over again), it just makes me think of all that she's done and been through, and it just awes me. If only I could tell her how awesome she is. Girls' education really matters, and who better to speak for it than a spokesperson for the girls who suffer from the loss the most?

Every night (well, every night before my parents got rid of cable), my dad would sit down and watch The Rachel Maddow show. Just a journalist, maybe, but another hero as well. She means what she says, and I agree with it. And look how far we've come for it to be okay for a member of the LGBT community (gasp) to deliver news. It's the same with Ellen DeGeneres, even though they're totally different people. Ellen's hilarious, and she stands up for herself. She has no problem with herself. Good for her. If only more people were like that.

So I guess heroes can be anyone, really. Maybe I don't really want to be a math teacher or a talk show host, but I can still heed the advice of these people, and believe what they preach. And they don't have to be perfect, either, because I wouldn't want to be a perfect person, or look up to one.

Coming back to Addie and her story, her other friend came in at that moment. When she explained to him what was going on, he agreed. "Makes living kind of scary without them."

I couldn't agree more.