True Hero

Graded Homework

SAT Essay

Assignment:

Should heros be defined as people who say what they think when we ourselves lack the courage to say it?

I Got a 6 on this one too..

Although no one would argue that Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and all those other iconic leaders are heros, the term “hero” changes from a person to another. What a hero truly means is a person that does not only speak his or her mind, but also courageously acts upon it.

During Abraham Lincoln’s time, slavery was a major crisis. African Americans were enslaved and stripped out of every shred of dignity. They were treated in the most inhumane ways. Abraham always had strong views against this action, but he knew talk was cheap. Therefore, Lincoln aspired to be a president who could achieve change. Once president, it wasn’t long before he banished slavery and segregation. Thanks to Abraham Lincoln, racial inequality is considered a taboo.

In Stephenie Meyer’s The Host, Wanderer is a Soul who, just like all other Souls, had to live within a Host and live off what its world has to offer. When Wanderer reached Earth, she noticed that earthlings had a mind of their own, and that, on that planet, hosts were parasites. Wanderer found herself getting fond to a community of rebellious, Soul-free humans. She strove to gain their trust and understand that she wasn’t like the other souls, but the humans wouldn’t believe her talks. She decided that to gain respect, actions had to accompany her words. Wanderer started helping the humans develop their community, and soon she was their hero.

As history and literature make it obvious, to be a true hero you have to not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. Saying that the only reason Abraham Lincoln or Wanderer were entitled as heros is only that they were courageous enough to say what we can’t is a disintegration of their heroic deeds.

Aya Adel