Flawless Heroes?

457 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays over the definition of a hero

Flawless Heroes?

It is important for youth to have heroes but society cannot ignore the facts and only report on the good side of those heroes. Everyone is human, and they are going to make mistakes. Hopefully they learn from those mistakes, and if those mistakes are brought to light and conveyed to the young people then they too learn from those mistakes.
History has a duty to report on the entire story. To report anything less would be wrong. To just simply say that Columbus was a perfect man who never did anything wrong would paint an unrealistic picture of the past. Mr.
Gibbon, the author of this article seems to think that reality is a bad thing and should not be taught in our classrooms. Today's youth however need to be prepared for life in some way. They cannot be fed everything with a sugar coated spoon. If they were given everything on a silver platter like that then when they walked out into the real world for the first time they would not be able to adjust and become a productive part of society.
Today's young people are in search of heroes as Mr. Gibbon suggests, but every person is going to have some skeletons in their closet, hero or no hero.
To ask society to ignore the facts just so young people can feel that these people are perfectly squeaky clean is wrong. Society cannot lie to them. There is some value to teaching reality even though Mr. Gibbon doesn't seem to think so. Mr. Gibbon mentions that there is some sort of "tradition of exemplary lives" in society's heroes that used to exist but no longer does. However there never was such a tradition of wonderfully perfect people with perfect lives.
Back then people ignored the facts and decided to believe that these people were perfect when the fact was that they were not perfect, they were just human.
You cannot shield today's young people. You can't just cover their eyes to reality. Reality must be exposed and studied so they can try to understand the world.
I agree with Gibbon that parents are the first and most important educators and they must try to make their lives exemplary so their children will

Show More
Related

  • The Myint Author Of Christopher Columbus: Hero Or Villain?

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many consider Columbus a Hero, others believe he was selfish and self centered. Myint author of “Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?” and Ransby author of “Columbus and the Making of Historical Myth.”, are faced with the same dilemma. From a young age children are taught about Columbus and his greatness, but the books fail to document the atrocities committed in the process. Most of the books use biased language; little evidence and vague language is used to hail Columbus as a great hero. Myint provides a more objective stance, while Ransby condemns Columbus entirely. However, both suggest to consider Columbus a hero is a mistake.

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus Hero Or Villain

    2323 Words  | 5 Pages

    Who is Christopher Columbus? You may already have prior knowledge of him, but if you do not, Christopher Columbus was a Spanish explorer who made four voyages to the Americas. His voyages led to the Columbian Exchange and colonization. Many cultures, ideas, technology, and foods were spread between the Americas, the “New World,” and Europe, Africa, and Asia, the “Old World”. Even though many great things were exchanged between the Old World and the New World, many diseases from Europe were introduced to the Natives. Does this make Christopher Columbus a hero, or a villain? The answer is not that debatable. A closer look must be taken at Christopher Columbus 's life to be able to judge such things. This essay will take a look at his life,

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus Should Not be Considered a Hero

    436 Words  | 1 Pages

    When you think of historical greats like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King Jr. Columbus is not a name that I would use in association with theirs. Now on the other hand I see similarities between Columbus and Hitler. When we remember Hitlerwe look back on all the devastation that he caused and have nothing but empathy and admiration for the Jews and their endurance. Why not the same for the Indians of these great lands, whose tears and blood where shed for nothing more than mere greed.

    Read More

  • The Greesboro Four

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    Generally when you think of a hero, who do you envision? Most likely, you picture a strong and imposeing figure, someone capable of performing in high pressure situations, demonstrating bravery and passion to help his/her fellow man. Those who typically fit that role in society are firefighters, policemen, and soldiers. Those people deserve all the credit and recognition they receive for their courageous acts. However, what about individuals or groups who aren’t necessarily on the “frontlines” physically protecting others and saving lives, but who work extremely hard to improve the lives of others in some way? These everyday people deserve credit as well. After all, to the people they help, these volunteers or activists are heroes. An example of such a group is the Greensboro Four, a few African American college students in the early 1960s who helped change the landscape of segregation in the Jim Crow South.

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus: The Villain

    352 Words  | 1 Pages

    Columbus does not deserve to be praised for the discovery of America. In short, if he didn't do it, someone else would have within 10 years. He was not the only one who believed that the earth was round, and the ideas of similar voyages had been previously proposed.

    Read More

  • Howard Zinn on Colonization

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...lumbus’ treatment of the people he found when he finally landed the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria was atrocious, and should not be ignored when talking about his great accomplishments. Zinn sheds a clear light on who Columbus really was, and what his main objectives were in the New World. Though Columbus is a hero, and the United States would not exist without his contribution to history, he was accountable for thousands of deaths, and that should not be forgotten.

    Read More

  • Columbus Deserve A Holiday

    490 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although, Columbus may have done some bad things to America, he helped England, Spain, and all people to this day. When he discovered America he made it known, allowing people to travel there and begin a new life. Lots of countries honor Columbus, especially Spain. For his discovery we wouldn’t be where we are now, we might have still believed the world was flat. From the author of “Sail On!” he says “Columbus’ voyage made America known to the people of Europe. This truly changed the world. It is why Columbus is honored.”He will be honored for the good things we don’t need to ponder on the

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus Rape

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    For generations upon generations, students have been taught about the “hero” Christopher Columbus who had discovered our new world. However, to say he was a hero would not exactly be the truth; Columbus was an eccentric man who cared much more about his profits than the well being and even lives of the natives. It is documented in journals that he and his crew had slaughtered entire villages at a time, and that he had even killed people just for the point of testing how sharp his sword was. Not only did Columbus and his crew have a thing for violence, on multiple accounts crew members wrote down every single successful rape of women; and used the voyage to help begin a slave export for the royalty of Spain.

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus: Villain or Hero?

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    For more than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accounts of the "finding of the New World" they begin to wonder if Columbus should adored or hated for his actions. As a child I was taught that Columbus was a great man that had accomplished great things for the sake of humanity, but in reality his agenda was not to better humanity but to better himself. He found the Americas by mere chance and he did not even know of what he found. We give him credit for "finding" the Americas but history tells of the people, that he called Indians, already inhabiting the foreign land. So you decide whether or not Christopher Columbus should be revered a hero.

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus: The Villain

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    I didn?t know much about Columbus, but when it was taught to us as a class, which was rarely, the lessons were brief and covered only the ?positive? things that he did. That is, from the eyes of those who believe Columbus was a noble man. It wasn?t until 6th grade when my teacher showed my class the book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen that we opened our eyes and saw reality. We had been deceived. Deceived by videos. Deceived by books. Deceived by teachers. But at least it felt good to know the truth-finally.

    Read More

  • Christopher Columbus: The True Importance Of Christopher Columbus

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    Meanwhile, they make up all kinds of details to tell a better story and to humanize Columbus so that readers will identify with him” (1). On American textbooks, Christopher Columbus was portray as the first person who discovered America, but it is actually a lie that Columbus is the first America’s “great” hero. In my opinion, American textbooks put more emphasis on making significant heroic character rather than giving a true detail of history. Also, it provides a mythical hero and covers up anything that shows in the history of the America in a negative light and made them look bad. Explorers who reached America before Columbus are well underplayed. They should stick to the facts of what Columbus really did and should focus on as many accurate details of Columbus’ life, without overcompensating for his

    Read More

  • Effects Of Anobolic Steroids

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    You’ve all seen them, the enormously large muscle-heads at the gym, the participates of the World’s Strongest Man Competition, the amazing offensive tackles, and the lightning fast runners. They were all unnaturally strong, and looked like gods. You tend to obsess over how beautiful their bodies are, how strong they are, or how fast they can run. All you can think about is reaching that level of athletic excellence, and nothing will hold you back. At times like these some people tend to take the quick fit to get closer to their idols, in the form of steroids. But what individuals tend not see is the horrible side effects that accompany the use of these anabolic steroids. These powerful drugs have both positive and negative results from their use. Along with increased strength and size, users of steroids suffer from a wide range of sicknesses such as cancer, shrinkage of testicles, bad acne, hair loss, damage organs, intense mood swings, and impotence.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay About Abortion

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    A woman has the right to consider many options of dealing with unplanned pregnancies that may be a final burden they don’t want to take on during a time of hardship. Many women and young teens get pregnant at a time in their lives when they are still maturing and would rather terminate a pregnancy because they feel they are not ready for the added responsibility that a baby brings and want to continue getting an education with ease instead of the stresses of having to juggling on to many responsibilities all at once. “Being a single parent may interrupt careers and the ability to earn wages if complication occurs to take care of the household bills.” (Lowen, 2014). Because we live in a society that judges and places status on people some young mothers avoid becoming young single mothers of not having to deal with parental disapproval. “Lately abortions have been on the decline since the introduction of long-term contraceptives like intrauterine devices and may be also the recent recession and the economy's unpredictability.” (Eckholm, 2014). Thanks to adoption agencies instead of aborting...

    Read More

  • Christmas People Essay

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    Christmas is the most popular holiday in all of the land. Mostly everyone loves Christmas. There are three categories of Christmas people. Number one; the haters. They despise Christmas and think it is the devil and nothing good comes from lying to children and giving gifts for absolutely no reason at all. Number two; the average person. The ones who just buy the gifts, wear the holiday sweaters, and go to the annual Christmas gathering at Grandma’s where gifts and laughs are exchanged. Number three; the die hard Santa’s of the group. The few mothers or fathers who decorate the day after Halloween to get into the Christmas spirit. The tree is up on November first and the Christmas lights are hung all year round. They make sure to go black friday shopping to get everyone a gift, even cousin Nicholas, who is three times removed. Christmas is

    Read More

  • Real Heroes in our Society

    1806 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Batman, Superman are some of the characters that we stereotypically constitute as heroes. They are known to fight with courage without fear of death. They destroy the enemy within a blink of an eye. They fight using their own body strength, superpower, or some kind of weapon. They come to the rescue miraculously and leave without a trace. They are mysterious. We are unable to identify who they are underneath the masks and disguises. Yet, we praise them and ignore the real heroes that surround us regularly, ordinarily. “All of us …like to believe that in a moral emergency we will behave like the heroes of our youth, bravely and forthrightly, without thought of personal loss or discredit” (O’Brien 39). In other words, we are quite oblivious to the ordinary people of the world that are, in fact, the true heroes.

    Read More

More about Flawless Heroes?

Open Document