I am going to speak about the notion of myths and heroes from the perpective of a particular question: to what extent can we say that a soldier is a hero?
Definition
According to the general definition, a myth is a traditional and universal story which concerns the life of ordinary or extraordinary people. A myth can be true or imaginary, can explain a social or natural phenomenon or a concept hard to explain or understand - the creation of the world for instance. It can be a popular belief or a tradition or a false notion. A hero participates in the myths. This term contains aspects of various kinds. There are a lot of heroes: the fictitious heroes (from cartoons or comics strips), a musical hero (like Michael Jackson), a humain rights defender, a sportsman, some unknown heroes (like firemen, soldiers, charity workers...)...
This term refers to multiple concepts, that's why I chose to focus on the topic 'the hero as soldier': some unknown heroes, who save our life. Firstly, I will present what the soldiers are and what they do. Subsequently, I will speak about their sacrifice.
Development
By thinking about a hero, we usually have in mind fictional character like Batman or Superman. It's not really surprising that the American culture has been glorifying those superheroes for a long time, they are the expression of desires that generation of teen agers have had in common: being self-confident, superior, more powerful and strong. They also are the symbol of the unification of the Nation against different threats: Captain America led the American army against their enemies - the Nazis - for instance.
However, heroes aren’t all fictional, they are embedded by real persons as well. Persons who are closer to us, to which anyone can identify. Soldiers are the first example which come to my mind. It's true that they are not all considered as heroes, because they are common people, they are not strong as the heroes from the cartoons, or they aren’t have some supernatural powers. But, they might be heroes if they realised a good and generous action, help people who are in trouble, defend the others, powerless, just with their capacity, and their heart.
These unknown heroes protect the people, powerless, they risk their life to protect them, they do a lot of sacrifice, it’s very dangerous and they sacrifice their life or also the times with their family, for their country, their homeland. We studied a lot of document about the soldiers, some pictures and movies...
Nevertheless, the soldiers’ life is not easy. Their work is hard, they must be strong, physically and psychologically. This work can bring trauma. It’s horrible, they live constantly with the death, the fear... They see their friends, their fellow dying, in front of them, and they can’t do anything to save or to help them. They also do some great sacrifice. In the trailer of the movie “We were soldiers”, we saw that they leave their family. It’s very hard for them. Furthermore, it’s a selfish choice, because their relatives suffer a lot. With the movie “Full Metal Jacket”, we saw that the sacrifice is very hard, this can bring some trauma, for example for Léonard Lawrence, a character who succumbed to the madness of the army, the training, and the pressure, and who committed suicide. The soldiers suffer. Now they are in the military and their fate is to kill, as we can see on the cover of the movie Full Metal Jacket (born to kill). It’s a terrible fate, it’s hard to accept this, even if it’s their choice.Furthermore, the soldier’s life is very dangerous. They are a lot of soldiers who die. They have some weapons, guns, to defend themselves, but it’s not enough, in front of the adversaries or enemies. They haven’t a lot of things to protect themselves. Too many soldiers die. Their relatives suffer a lot with these deaths. It’s hard for them.
Still, we can admire the values of these soldiers, who know the risks, the danger, but they not shrink because of this. The death is over them. But, even though, they sacrifice their life, for their countries, their homeland. They are very brave. Furthermore, they don’t want anything, any gratitude in exchange to their actions. In conclusion we can say that the heroes have a lot of qualities. The soldiers are some important and impressive heroes. They are some models, for the population. They are brave, generous... They fight the evil. They realize actions for the humanity. Nevertheless, their work is very dangerous, they can dead at any moment, they risk their life... We must imitate them. It’s good, for the children, to have some heroes and to imitate them because, by doing this, they take their qualities and they become better. We can all be a hero for someone.
