Pat Tillman Heroism

Heroism Essay

Christopher Reeve once said, “ A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” The difference between a hero and an average person is that, one will give up and the other will keep fighting. Heroes are willing to sacrifice themselves for others, they are brave when other others cower, and do not run away from the terror.

Being a hero means to be willing to risk your life for others. Such as, Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman was a fantastic football player and he loved playing it too. Despite that, Pat Tillman turned down a 3.6million dollar contract to the Arizona Cardinals to go fight the war against terrorism. He ended up dieing from friendly fire. All this goes to show how brave Pat Tillman was to risk his life and give up his football career to go fight in Afghanistan to help protect the American people. Likewise, the people that helped evacuate New York City after the

9/11 plane crashes. A man that helped evacuate people to safety, Vincent Ardolino from “Boatlift 9/11” said “I thought I was watching a movie, towering inferno at first. Then I looked real close and I noticed it was the world trade center, I was compelled because I am the type of person that can’t stand by and watch other people suffer. And to me they were suffering and they wanted to get off the island, and there was no way for them to get off the island, other than the water, and I had noticed when I was watching the television, I saw a lot of ferries going up into the slips and taking people off, I said, fine we can do the same thing, I can take people on my boat.” As you can tell he put a major risk of his life by doing this, especially when you're going into the unknown. As seen from Pat Tillman and Vincent Ardolino, not your average person would do these heroic things.
Heroism means to be brave and courageous when others won’t.

For example, Abraham Lincoln was a great leader, he was honest and brave. From the White House Funeral Sermon for Abraham Lincoln, “He is dead; but the cause he so ardently loved, so ably, patiently, faithfully represented and defended--not for himself only, not for us only, but for all people in all their coming generations.” (SB pg 68). Abraham Lincoln was courageous and brave, for not only defending and representing his generation but for many more to come, even still today. In a similar way Frederick Douglass was brave. In the narrative of Frederick Douglass, “I could not hope to get off with anything less than the severest punishment and being placed upon the means of escape.”(SB pg 71). Frederick Douglass knew the consequences of running away to be a free man, and yet he still showed his braveness and ran away anyway. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass are brave people, if others had the same job/opportunity it would be unlikely they would do

so.
A true hero does not run away from terror. A role model of this is Spartacus. Spartacus was cornered by Crassus after he was betrayed by the Sicilian Pirates. Despite this Spartacus fought the battle, he lost but damaged the Roman Army. Even though Spartacus didn’t stand a chance he still fought the battle instead of surrendering to the Army. Some of his men surrendered and walked away from the battle but Spartacus did not run away from terror like others. Another great example is Rosa Parks. This African american activist refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. In that time period if this were to happen, you could go to jail. Even after knowing this Rosa Parks stood her ground, she ended up helping the civil rights movement because of this. Spartacus and Rosa Parks are two different people but they both in different ways do not run away from terror.
In the end, to be a true hero... You have to be willing to sacrifice yourself for others, be brave when others cower, and do not run away from terror. Heroic people stand out from others. They do not always physically stand out, but in times of crisis their heroicness shows. Heroes do what is good for the greater good, even if himself/herself isn’t part of that greater good. Do you think you could be selfless if you and others lives were on the line.