Age of the Heroes: (-∞ B.C., ∞ A.D.)

JENNY LEE
Features Editor

Rewind to year 400 million B.C. and our “hero” may have been a mother Triceratop protecting her baby dinosaurs from a vicious Tyrannosaurus Rex. Fast-forward to year 2013 A.D. and this “hero” may now be a human mother protecting her children from walking into a financially problematic future by nagging them to excel in their academics.

The circumstances are altered and the characters are switched, but the common image of a “hero” (or heroine) remains constant—the idea of heroes is universal. Sacrificing a life to rescue three shipmates from the USS Oklahoma in World War II and helping a classmate gather fallen belongings in the crowded hallways are two situations of contrasting extremities, but both stories emit a heroic light.

Why is sacrificing one’s life as heroic as collecting scattered textbooks off the floor? Perhaps the person who dropped their books was having a rough day; that small random act of kindness improved their mood because we all face unshared challenges.

Whether or not we share identical heroes is irrelevant, because save the exuberant transformations and special effects, each hero holds their own Avengers tale. For every action that positively influences a life, be it a stranger or a friend, a hero is born.

This notion has been unaltered for generations, and perhaps these heroic efforts go unnoticed and under-appreciated, but anyone can be a hero. One difference is all it takes.