In this age the only way to be classified as a hero is to do somethingcharitable, or standing up for your political beliefs. Our society no longeraccepts the war aspect of being a hero. If someone were to single handedlydefeat an army he would be given a medal, but be upstaged on the news by theperson who donated a million dollars to a special fund. This is not bad, but ithas shown how society has changed sense Beowulf’s times.
The heroes of today areMother Theresa, Princess Diana, Ghandi, and Martin Luther King Jr. , there aremany more but none stand out as prominently. Grant it, they are all dead, theyall either went out of their way to help others or believed in something sostrong they were forever be remembered. Not many people of today would leavetheir possessions to help poor people or travel through mine fields to see whatit is like for everyday travel in some parts or the world, and these examplesare few compared to the many heroes of today.
Most heroes are everyday peoplewho fight to keep down two jobs to feed their family. In Beowulf’s times themore people you killed the more your popularity grew and the more widespreadyour name becomes. In these times it matters on how many people you save or howmuch money you donate. Everyone knew of Ted Turner’s vast wealth but he wasn’tconsidered such a great guy until he donated a billion dollars to the UnitedNations. Beowulf saved a lot of people but he did it by defeating monsters andother armies.
In his time this gave people hope knowing they had a strong leadernow it depends on how nice a leader is and how they can help people. In thetimes we are in now we consider hospitality and generosity such heroic traitsbecause like to hear about good things happening around the world, so the mediatakes these good deeds and makes them sound heroic. Heroism is a selfless act ofcourage but in today’s world it is shortened to just a selfless act. The more ofthese selfless acts you do, the more people will like you.
That is why famouspeople try to do something nice at least once a year, instead of doing thesethings all the time because they know it’s the right thing to do. In conclusion,I think that society has changed drastically in the views on many topics, andheroism is just one of them. The only reason these views change is becausesociety thinks they are doing the right thing by making big deals out of littlethings. In Beowulf’s times one had to earn the title of hero, now they slap iton anyone who does something nice just to better themselves.
I am not sayingthat all people are these false heroes, because the people I mentioned earlierwere not false. They really did earn the title of hero.
