Is there permanence?

A little over a year ago I watched my grandfather's limp body carried out of his bedroom and into the back of a hurse. I stood there with my grandma, my mom, dad, and sisters. I was crying because I knew he was dead, but I didn't fully understand the concept. Standing next to my grandma, I heard her exclaim, "He's never going to come home again!" Even though I knew this was true in my mind, I didn't accept the fact that is was real. Even to this day I still expect my grandpa to walk through our kitchen door carrying a box of donuts for us to eat. I can still hear his low voice saying, "And we're off, like a herd of turtles!" whenever I pull out of the driveway. It's occasions like these when you realize how permanent death is. until you come face to face with it, you never truly understand.

Even though we are all mortals, we do not take that fact into consideration when we go about our day to day lives. As a teenager, I can say that me and others alike don't fully understand how short life is. We all have the mind set that nothing is ever going to happen to us, that we are invincible. As someone who is still very young, we don't experience death as much as older people do. Take Enkidu's reaction to his death for example. He didn't truly understand his mortality until he was on his deathbed (pg. 91). He was always a mortal throughout the entire novel, but he never came to terms with it because he never thought death was going to happen to him.

Our world also tries to hide the fact that everybody grows old and eventually dies. Everywhere you look there are ads telling you to buy anti-aging cream that will give you younger looking skin in just 7 days!! You never see any TV commercials for a cemetery or a gravestone maker. No one likes to talk about death or face the fact that it will eventually happen. And when the few brave souls who try to bring up the subject it is, more often than not, quickly shut down with the comment, "It's not going to happen for a while so lets not worry about it now." But you can't stop it, no matter how much cream you lather on your body.

Because we have gotten so good at ignoring death, we have lost sight of the fact that our world isn't permanent. Everything about our lives is constantly changing; whether it be climate changes or technological ones. Time is continuing to move forward whether we like it or not. And, time doesn't care if we are ready to accept our fate. When you study nature and its past you can see the cycles that it has gone through. Approximately 99.9% of the world's various species have gone extinct. And that was nature's doing. As humans, we try to keep everything the same, fearing change. Maybe we should take a lesson from the animals that are considered "beneath" us for once. They don't seem to have a problem with dying, in fact, they seem to have embraced that fact.

I once asked this same grandfather what he thought of the life he lived and if he had any regrets. He told me that life was too short to regret anything that you did; that what happens happens for a reason. He also said that everything you do has some sort of hidden lesson and its your job to find that lesson and master it. He then told me that one of his favorite lessons to learn was the art of passing on his wisdom. He said that was the greatest thing that life had ever taught him to do. To my grandfather, passing on his wisdom to me and others around me was what gave his life meaning. And I agree with him. Even though we all die in the end, its what we do during the time that we have that counts. They are always going to be people who surpass you in life so why not pass along your experiences to them? Its the passing on of your knowledge to those around you that gives life its meaning.

...heroism?

In every book you read or movie you see, there is always a protagonist. And, normally, this person must face evil and defeat the odds to protect others around, save the world, or just make it make home alive. How each of these people do it however, varies; whether they kill anything and everything perceived to be against them or defy the rules society puts out in order to make life better. They are always seen in the end as someone who was fearless, courageous, and working towards bettering humanity. However, are all these characters heroes? And if so, what makes them a hero? And why do they all seem to be men? Why not a woman heroine? Is there even a point to having a hero?

To be a hero, you must accomplish some sort of goal, whether it be the one that you originally set out to complete or some other one created along the way. A hero is someone that doesn't just follow a specific road to reach his or her goal. A real hero learns along the way and grows as a person. In reality, a hero isn't perfect. They do make mistakes because they are human. However, a real hero is someone that takes those mistakes and uses them to make their future and possibly the future of others better. When asked, many people say that to be a hero you need to have good morals and do the right thing, but I don't believe that this is always the case. Sure it great to know the difference between right and wrong and to always strive to be a better person, but that doesn't mean that those people who don't always do the right thing aren't heroes. One of my very good friends can most likely be classified as an uneducated, wild, and rebellious person. However, he is someone that I consider to be a hero. Granted, he hasn't always made the best decisions in life and never completed his education, but he is still someone that I look up to because he takes all those mistakes he has made in life and makes sure that those he cares about don't make the same ones. His life was never very easy for him growing up in a broken family, but he always made the best of it and is one of the most optimistic people I know. I have always admired him and have always wanted to have his outlook on life. He is the kind of person that I want to be when I grow up, he is one of my heroes.

I truly believe that anyone can be a hero. To be a hero to someone, you just need someone to look up to you. I know when I was younger, I thought my parents knew everything and could do no wrong. To me, they were heroes. Now, I'm sure if you took my parents and made them characters in a movie, it would probably be very boring for most people. However, because they were there for me as role models they became my heroes. You don't need to save the world from total destruction or lead an army into a great victory during a war to be a hero. All you need is someone that believe in you to be the best you can be.

According to most books, heroes are almost always male. Very rarely do you ever see a woman triumph over the great perils and mythical creatures brought to life by creative minds of writers. But, men do not always have to be the hero of every tale. Back in the early centuries, and even in the earlier years of this century, women were always perceived as the caretakers of the house and children. They didn't, commonly, have jobs or were very well educated. It is only very recently in our country that women were granted equal rights and suffrage. And, in some parts of the world, women are still treated with disrespect and considered the mans' property. It is because of this dominance that men always seemed to claim over women that makes them the natural hero of every story. When you go to the movies, its always a guy that saves the day and ends up with that hapless girl that he saved somewhere in the middle of the movie. But this idea of males as the natural heroes was onyl created becaue society made everyone believe that males were stonger, smarter, and the all around more superior race.


Bertold Brecht once said "Unhappy is the land that need heroes." and I completely disgree with this statement. I believe that everyone needs a hero no matter what age, gender, or nationality you are. Having a hero gives you a sense of purpose in your life and a vote of self confidence in a way. When you are able to see someone accomplishing their goals it motivates you to do the same. Even though the goal of a fictional hero may be trying to save the world and your goal is to graduate from high school and get into college, its always relieving to know that there is someone out there working to help otheres and stand up for what they believe in. Having a hero in your life, whether it be fictional or from reality, gives you someone to look up too, admire, and strive to be like. Eventually everyone will choose their own path in life, and, most likely it will be different than you originally thought it would be, but that orginal boost to start paving your path was given to you by your hero.